Where We Begin
by CelestialHeavens1
Summary: Real chapter up! The tension between Zoe & Wade is too much until after Wade goes Zoe to New York during Thanksgiving. Everyone knows something between Zoe & Wade changed. Picking up after my one shot in What If- Zoe was in Bluebell for Christmas. New chapter FINALLY up!
1. BI: Snow & History

Okay, so this picks up after where my Christmas one shot in What If picks leaves off. It is a continuation of the three, so I'm probably not going to continue this story there. Maybe the occasional one shot from this over there. This is my first full length Hart of Dixie chapter fanfic with a story that I made up! (Woo!) I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I own Roxana, Christiana, and the idea that made turned into this story. And the keyboard that I'm typing on.  
>I don't (sadly) own Hart of Dixie (because you all know Zoe would have been with Wade after she first played Dixie with her butt. He would have taken her on a date and then they'd go an be the perfect couple because they are too cute together, if I owned Hart of Dixie, which I don't.)<p>

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><p>It was three days after Christmas when temperatures drop below freezing in Bluebell. Never before had such a thing happened, not in many yards. It was too late for a white Christmas, but when the Bluebellians woke up on December 28th, the ground was blanketed with snow and ice from the blizzard that happened through the night.<p>

Wade groaned as he opened his front door. Snow was all the way up to his porch. He didn't have snow tires. How was he possibly supposed to get to the Rammer Jammer? The snow was low enough that he could run to Zoe's house. He opened her door quietly, knowing Zoe was still sleeping.

He pulled down a couple of extra blankets from the closet. He was careful to cover Zoe without waking up his girlfriend of almost a month. She curled into the blankets, murmuring in her sleep. She was just adorable. Wade leaned over, pressing his lips to her forehead as he tucked her in. He never realized just how small Zoe was. He wrote a note to Zoe, telling him that he'd been in he'd be at the Rammer Jammer, but he'd make them dinner tonight.

He ran back over to his house, pulling out the heavier coat he had bought in New York with Zoe. She insisted he would need it and she would thank her for it later. Wade chuckled, knowin' his Doc had been right. Fortunately for him and his Chevelle, Lavon came driving up in his SUV, snow chains on his tires. He pulled on the coat and ran through the snow to meet him.

"Zoe said yesterday it's her day off today," Lavon explained, "And she said if she got a call, she could walk." Wade looked up at Lavon.

"Where did all this snow come from?" The mayor shrugged.

"It's supposed to snow until after New Years."

"Bet Doc's gonna enjoy it." Both men chuckled and Wade reached over, turning up the heater in the SUV. He agreed with his thoughts from his time in New York, it was much too cold.

"So you and Zoe are together, huh?" Wade stared at him like he was crazy. "Lavon Hayes knows things."

"What gave you that idea?"

"The way you two have been actin' 'round each other. You gave her your mama's pearls for Christmas."

"Okay, yes!" Wade yelled, slapping the dashboard, "Zoe and I have been somewhat dating since we got back from New York!"

Lavon chuckled at Wade's hissy fit just then. Lavon pressed the brakes, slowing through an especially thick path of snow. Wade stared out from the side window. The snow was just piling up and piling up.

As he stepped inside the Rammer Jammer as Lavon dropped him off, he was surprised to see the number of people inside. It seemed like most of the town had pulled on every coat they owned and came to the Rammer Jammer today. George Tucker and the Breelands sat in the corner, bundled up. Dash de Witt had multiple coats on. The heat was blasting in there, making it normal temperature for a Bluebell winter- seventy degrees Fahrenheit. The moment he was inside the door, Rose was on his heels.

"Where's Zoe? Has she seen the snow? What does she think?" the mini version of Zoe asked.

"Well, she's not working today is all I know. I haven't seen her yet today." Rose nodded excitedly.

"I'll ask my mama to drive me out there."

Zoe turned over, pulling the blanket up. She was back in New York. She had to be; Bluebell never got this cold. It was all a dream, yes, just an awful dream.

Slowly, she turned in her bed and blinked open her eyes. She was in her bed in Bluebell, yes, but there was white in the window. She had more blankets than when she went to bed last night, a good thing too. She had only been wearing summer pajamas. Then again, last night it had been eighty degrees, not twenty.

Rolling out of bed and searching for her slippers, she rushed over to the closet, pulling down her bathrobe. As Zoe approached the window, she spotted the note on the dresser and rolled her eyes. It figured Wade had been in here this morning. Who else would have covered her?

Zoe used her sleeve to wipe some of the frost away from the glass pane.

"Well Zoe, we are not in Bluebell anymore," she muttered to herself, starring at the snow that covered the land in a thick blanket of white. The lake looked frosted over, a solid layer of ice. A grin slowly grew across her face as she rushed into her bathroom and got ready. Today was going to be a beautiful day.

When she stepped onto the ice, testing it, she shook a little. Sure she went ice skating every year with her friends in New York, but she had been serious ice skating in years. She had only even brought her skates to Bluebell because she didn't want Roxana, her friend who shared a foot size, stealing her more expensive skates to use. Never in a million years had she thought that there would be snow.

At first she was slow, steady. She hadn't done any serious ice skating in over ten years. The last time she had done any sort of figure skating had been just before she had her accident. Zoe breathed in deeply. First things first, she needed to warm up.

When she was born, her name was Zonne Reinhardt. She was named for her maternal grandmother. Her parents were Willem 'Pim' Reinhardt and Lijsbeth Reinhardt- de Jong. They were Dutch immigrants who moved to America shortly before Zoe was born. Professionally in America, her father took on the anglicized version of his name, William Hart, which used a shortened version of Reinhardt. Her mother had completely changed her name to Candice Hart.

When she was six, she had her friends used to save up their money to go to the ice skating rink in Rockefeller Center with Roxana's big sister, Christiana. The next year, they did the same, only that year, Zoe had saved up twice as much money and would sneak out after school. She loved figure skating so much back then, even more than the idea of becoming a heart surgeon. To the seven year old Zoe, it had been two of the things she loved to do most: ballet and ice skating. Besides being a doctor, of course.

When she was eight, she fell and broke her arm skating. She had snuck out when her parents were arguing over something, she was pretty sure it had been about her. The ice skating rink had been her safe haven for the few months they had it each year. She wouldn't have broken her arm had a man not bumped against her and made her lose her balance, then a boy fell on top of her arm.

It was her lucky day that day, in some ways. There had been a woman watching her, a woman who had coached two Olympic figure skating contestants and she saw young Zoe had the promise to go onto the Olympics as well. Miss Dana, Zoe had grown to call her coach, was strict, but fair. She made Zoe work harder than she ever had to before. For nearly ten years they trained together until both made their goal.

The 1998 Winter Olympics were held in Japan. She had done phenomenally there, placing 4th, an amazing feat especially when you remember that most of the others in her category were older than her. But then she had her accident where she fell and broke her leg skating. She hadn't figure skated since. Somehow, here in the silence and solitary, she found her strength again.

She skated along the ice, doing a quick axel. It felt so good to do one of the two things she loved that she down another one and another, then let herself glide. A grin crept onto her face.

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><p>As previously stated in my author note in What If: I'm not a mind reader, so in order to know if you guys like this or not, please read and review. :) It makes my day to see all of your comments.<p> 


	2. BI: Friends & Family

Chapter 2 of Where We Begin. I put up my character/clothing list.

http : / celestialheavens1 . wordpress . com /

Without the spaces of course.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>"Hello?" Zoe asked, picking up her phone as she glided along backwards.<p>

"Zoe?"

"Hey! Gigi! You'll never guess what's happened."

"You're coming back to New York?" the bubbly party planner guessed incorrectly. Zoe rolled her, unable to wipe the huge grin from her face.

"Nope. Guess what I'm doing right now." The doctor could practically hear her friend thinking over the phone.

"Sweating? Looking over guys who have a perfect six-pack from lifting hay? Flirting with a certain bartender?" Zoe laughed, coming to a stop.

"Nope, none of the above."

"I'm ice skating! It's snowing here. There's about a foot of snow after a big storm last night." She could almost see Gigi's face change to disbelief, despite being a thousand miles away. She knew her friend well, too well.

"You're making that up!" the other girl exclaimed, "There's no way it's snowing there. How could you ice skate? The ice would be too thin to skate. You can cook steak on the counter top without turning on the stove there. Could you come up with a less obvious lie?"

"I'm not lying. The ice is really frozen solid. It's like the lake froze from the bottom up. Why don't you come down for New Years and see? It should still be here by then."

"Are you kidding? New Years is one of the biggest party nights of the year!" Gigi screeched, sounding absolutely outraged, "You can expect me and Roxana January 2."

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><p>A loud ringing interrupted Zoe's thoughts a short while later, "Hey, Zoe…" the voice from the other end said, "We have a major problemo."<p>

"What is it, Roxana?" Zoe asked one of her New Yorker friends.

"We are going to have no one opening the club Monday!" the other New Yorker freaked, "I'm going to be there with you, Gigi is going to be there. What are we supposed to do with the club?"

"Close it up for the week? Get your sister and cousin to club sit?" Roxana's cousin, Viviana, was lovely, just like the two sisters. She spoke with a crisp Spanish accent from living primarily in Spain and spoke English rapidly, faster than Zoe did. She ran a website that gave advice to people traveling to foreign and exotic countries, telling them the must see sites after going there herself. Every year, she'd visit her cousins living in New York and bring back each girl a gift from wherever she lived that year. She could almost imagine the darker haired Roxana bouncing up and down, excited about that idea.

"Oh Zoe, I love you! You are brilliant, completely brilliant!" the girl on the other end squealed, "Wait, Viviana said she would come straight to Bluebell. She said she wanted to see 'a cute little town like that'. So she'll be there soon. I'll see you next week!" The black haired girl had hung up before she had a chance to say goodbye. Zoe laughed quietly. Her friend was a little bit of an airhead at times.

Her, Roxana, and Gigi owned a nightclub in the meatpacking district. They had bought the building during college at a phenomenal price, and had Roxana's dad, who worked in construction, tear everything out of the building. Soon, Nacht, the Dutch word for 'night' was a high-class club with apartments above it, Zoe's, Gigi's, and Roxana's.

Dutch had been Zoe's second language. Her mother and the man she had thought her whole life to be her father were Dutch immigrants. They anglicized their names after Zoe's accident, to avoid press on just why exactly she had quit. After all, she placed fourth in the Olympics. In the 2002 Winter Olympics, she could compete again and do better. That was the question everyone wanted to know: why had she quit?

Nobody, other than Gigi, Roxana, and her family, knew about her accident as they now called it. She had been unable to walk for months. That when she really cultivated her passion of being a doctor. Zonne Reinhardt no longer existed in her mind.

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><p>"Hi, how can I help you?" the receptionist asked Candice Hart as she walked into the hospital.<p>

"I need to see Dr. Will Hart. Now," Candice demanded.

"Ma'am, he's in the middle of a surgery. Please fill out this form and take a seat in our waiting room." Candice turned from the counter, leaving the form behind as she walked up to the elevator and stepped inside as the doors opened, ignoring the receptionist's protests. Another doctor walked in.

"Hello, Mrs. Hart, what a surprise!" the man exclaimed, "What can I do for you?"

"I need to see my husband," she told the doctor, "It's about Zoe." The man nodded, pressing a floor on the panel.

"I'll take you to him. Is Zoe all right? I know everyone is really curious about where she's at now. How is she doing?"

"Well, she may be doing fine right now, but I am going to kill her," Candice told him tensely. She moved from the elevator car as it came to a stop.

"He's in 406!" the doctor called after her. She nodded and moved towards the room. It was only some pesky nurse that kept her from going into the operation room.

"Candice?" she heard her husband ask as he came out, "Is everything alright?" The blonde shook her head.

"Can we go somewhere private?" her husband nodded, leading her off to a small room. "I just got a call from Gigi," she said in a hushed voice, "Zoe is figure skating again. In Bluebell, no less. Apparently there was some snow storm or something so she's able to skate."

"You're worried it will get out and people will connect the dots," William Hart said softly, watching his wife nod. He took her hand in his. "Then we'll go to Bluebell. Let me finish up here. You go pack. I'll put in vacation time and meet you at home and we'll go to the airport."

"I'm worried about her." William nodded, walking over to the window and glancing out.

"Go get ready. I get off at five today." She nodded and left.

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><p>So again, don't forget to read and review. It doesn't have to be long, just a short little 'I like it' or "I don't like it".<p> 


	3. BI: New Years & New Beginnings

So there are pictures of the clothes and everything in this chapter for the most part on my blog/website. Check that out for a nice visual representation of the stuff.

For those of you who think this scenario is highly unrealistic, (snow in Bluebell, Zoe making it to the Olympics, Zoe placing fourth) and I know you are out there, congrats! It's fiction and I am using a very wonderful think called artistic license. Basically, that's a fancy way to say the artist (author) has leeway in his or her interpretation of something and it doesn't have to be accurate. Besides, athletes make it to the Olympics every two years. If it was impossible to get there, we wouldn't have the Olympics. And if you all will draw your attention to the year I stuck Zoe into the Olympics (1998), a fifteen year old (Tara Lipinski [USA] Youngest individual gold medalist in the history of the Winter Olympics) won.

Sorry to anyone who doesn't think this for that bit of snark. Hopefully you found that enjoyable. It also gives you a mini history lesson on this story. I was up the better part of the morning working on this. I tried to get it done for New Year's Eve, but alas I failed. Forgive me.

I hope everyone had a Happy New Years!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>"Mom?" Zoe shrieked as she stepped back inside her house later that evening. Wade had taken her to dinner out of town and just dropped her off. Everything had been perfect, until now when she saw the woman sitting on her bed. "What are you doing here?"<p>

"I heard you were ice skating."

"So what!" she yelled at the other woman, "It's just ice skating. There's nothing wrong with it. It's not illegal. I wasn't banned from it. So I ask again, what are you doing here?"

"Zoe, be reasonable. Someone could find out. They could-"

"It's Bluebell, Mom, not New York. I had a million times more chances at being discovered there then here. This town has a smaller population than most apartment buildings in New York!"

"You're father's here," Candice Hart said softly and watched as her daughter froze.

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked, not quite comprehending. Candice stood, reaching out and placing her hand on her daughter's arm.

"He came down here with me to come see you. He missed seeing you at Thanksgiving when you were there." Zoe moved out from under her mother's hand, pulling back on her boots and her coat, "Where are you going?"

"I need some time to think," the young doctor told her, stepping outside into the cool winter air.

Once outside, she moved towards the main house. Lavon had plenty of spare bedrooms and he would always be up still, more than likely with a pot of hot chocolate on the stove. When she reached the grand old house, she reached to knock, but the door opened for her and Lavon let her inside.

Wade was on the couch, a mug filled to the brim with the steaming drink. Lavon ladled out a cup for her as she took a seat beside her boyfriend. She snuggled into him and he reacted immediately, wrapping his arm around her tiny body.

Lavon took in the scene from a short ways away. Zoe and Wade weren't real open with their relationship. He hadn't even known before this morning and hadn't had suspicions until Christmas morning when Zoe opened the box to reveal Wade's momma's pearls. He knew Wade could be a real romantic if he wanted, but seeing his friend with the little doctor from New York was showing him a whole new side of Wade.

"My mom's here… with my dad. I don't know what to do," the brunette admitted.

"You should talk to your parents," Lavon said, "And I'd like to see Wade meet your daddy." He chuckled as Wade paled. Lavon picked up the phone and dialed Zoe's newly installed home phone.

"I don't meet Daddies, Lavon," Wade told the ex-linebacker, "You know that." Zoe looked at him. "I guess I'm going to have to start." Lavon chuckled.

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><p>The older, male Doctor Hart sat across from Wade at Lavon's dining room table. Candice sat beside him. Zoe sat next to Wade, wringing her hands beneath the table. The mayor was suspiciously absent from the little 'family gathering'.<p>

"Zoe, look, we only came down-" Candice started, but was met with raised eyebrows from three people. She sighed loudly, "Wade, would you mind if I spoke to you outside?"

Wade's eyebrows shot to his hairline as he stood. "Um, yes, ma'am. You'll need your coat though. It's started snowing." Mrs. Hart nodded and Wade grabbed her jacket for her, holding it out for her. She thanked him, sliding it on, and then they went outside.

Zoe and William Hart stared awkwardly at each other. It was the first time that they had been alone together in years. Her father had been away so often, and then she learned he wasn't really her father, rather he stepfather. Still, it hurt profoundly. She had missed her tatte.

Slowly, he stood, walking over to where Zoe sat and pulled her hands apart gently, pulling her up into a hug. "Ketzile, what have I told you about wringing your hands like that?" he asked his daughter, hugging her like she was a little girl again.

"That they're not made of cloth and filled with water," she whispered softly in return as she hugged him back. Will Hart pulled back and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Your mother drove me crazy the whole way down. She worries about you, my ketzile."

"I've missed you, Tatte," she whispered softly and Dr. Hart embraced his only daughter again. About this time, Wade and Mrs. Hart reentered the room.

Wade glanced at his girlfriend and her father. He was a tall, proud looking sort of man with dark hair like Zoe's, despite not being related, and the same brown eyes. He understood now how she had never suspected for over thirty years that he wasn't her father.

Dr. Hart looked over Wade, extending his hand to the boy. "You must be Wade."

Wade gave a guilty looking grin that caused Zoe to giggle. "You're not being executed. He's just my dad," she told her boyfriend who then accepted the offered hand, giving it a firm shake.

"Yes sir, Wade Kinsella. It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Hart." William Hart's lip curled up as he smiled larger at the boy who was dating his little girl.

"Please, call me William." Zoe grinned largely. That was a good sign. The only people she had ever known to call him something other than Dr. Hart was her mother who called him 'Will', her father's father, who called his son by his birth name, 'Willem', and her grandfather's wife and her mother's parents who called him 'Pim', a Dutch nickname for Willem. Zach was hardly allowed to called her father anything but 'sir' for the most part.

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><p>Zoe stared out at the town from the window on the top floor of the practice on New Year's Eve. She hadn't had many patients over the holidays and Brick had taken off on the better days to go ice fishing. Only in Bluebell, she supposed. New Years was tomorrow.<p>

In town, she could see people setting up for the New Year's Party. Wade and Lavon told her it was a big deal in Bluebell. It was just as big of a deal as watching the ball drop in Times Square. Surprisingly, for all the years she'd lived in New York, she'd never gone to Times Square on New Years'. It was too crowded, too much of a hassle, as if all New York packed into a tiny space of it. She had other things to keep her occupied on New Years.

So this year, Wade insisted on taking Zoe to the dance in the Rammer Jammer. Lavon told her it was the only real black tie event in Bluebell. Men wear suits and ties, women wear floor length gowns. Boys wore dress slacks and ties and button ups. Girls wore their best dresses that reached below their knees and their best shoes. It was like if all of Bluebell dressed up for one night. After, everyone would go outside for fireworks at midnight.

Addy showed her some pictures from last year. Lemon had a bright yellow dress on that hit the floor, surprise, surprise. Wade and Lavon were bought fully dressed up in tuxes and she had to admit, her boyfriend looked downright sexy in a tux.

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><p>Lemon Breeland stepped inside her daddy's practice. The news had spread like wildfire over Bluebell. Zoe Hart was dating Wade Kinsella. She felt it was her responsibility as Wade's ex-friend to give the city doctor a fair warning that if she broke the bartender's heart, she and everyone else in the town would personally ruin her.<p>

She didn't even bother to knock; rather she just stepped inside the little New Yorker's office. Rather than meeting the small high-heel wearing doctor, she met a man with an intimidating stature, his back to the door as he read a medical file. Lemon didn't know whose file, or who this man was, but she sure wanted to know why he was in her daddy's practice.

"Excuse me, sir, is there something you needed?" The man turned, seeming slightly shocked by the blonde's appearance. He lifted a glass and handed it to her.

"More water please," he told her, but Lemon set the cup down.

"I'm sorry," she said, "but what I meant to say is who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I'm reading my daughter's file," he said.

"But that doesn't answer my question of who you are or what you're doing in my daddy's practice!" Lemon all but screeched.

"Lemon?" Zoe asked, confused only to have the fire-breathing southern dragon turn at her, steam shooting from her nostrils and flames going up in the blonde's eyes. "You know your dad is out ice fishing, right?" she asked, crinkling her nose over the fishing part.

Lemon all but growled at the New Yorker. Suddenly she composed herself, smiling a little too sweetly. "I'm here on behalf of the Belles to tell you if you break Wade's heart, we will personally ruin you, understand?" Zoe raised an eyebrow, but nodded. Lemon's smile grew sweeter. "Good. That being said, who is this man and why is he reading a medical file. I know if my daddy was here, he would just have a fit."

Zoe laughed softly. "Lemon, this is my dad, one of the top cardio-thoracic surgeons in the world. Tatte, this is Lemon Breeland. Her father owns the other half of the practice."

Dr. Hart looked up and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Lemon." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Now if you'll excuse me, your mother is going to have a fit if I'm late to lunch," he told her, giving Zoe a kiss on the hair as he closed up the folder and stuck it into the medical bag behind the desk.

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><p>Zoe had dressed in the only long dress she brought to Bluebell, a floor length solid black dress that had a slit from her left knee down and a v in the back covered in sheer black material and had a tiny train. It was elegant, perfect for Bluebell's only formal event. She had accessorized with the pearls from Christmas and a pair of incredibly high sliver heels that had been a birthday present to herself at some point.<p>

In New York, her apartment had it's own walk-in shoe closet. She loved shoes, especially her heels. In fact, it nearly killed her to move to Bluebell and not be able to take all of her shoes.

Wade had picked her up, teasing her about her choice of shoes while they had snow there. As a result, he refused to let her walk from her porch to his car. Rather, he had scooped her into his arm and carried her, placing her in the seat beside him.

As they arrived at the Rammer Jammer and entered, Zoe was stunned to think that this was the same place. For one, the room was much larger than it was normally. The place was decorated differently. It seemed a bit like the Plaza's Grand Ballroom, but only vaguely. She breathed in sharply.

"Impressed?" Wade asked cockily. She slapped him lightly with her purse.

"Shut up," she muttered to her boyfriend who took her jacket and slipped away for a second with it, returning coatless himself.

From across the room, she saw Lemon in another yellow dress, talking with other Belles. Lavon and George chatted in the corner. And her parents… her parents were approaching them. After making pleasant conversation with them, Wade pulled her out to the dance floor.

It was almost midnight when Wade grabbed his and Zoe's coats and took her hands as they headed outside. As the New Year began, fireworks went up as the church bells rang loudly over the town square. From their secluded area, Zoe stared up into the sky.

"Wow, it's beautiful," she whispered to him. Wade nodded.

"When I was a kid, my momma always like to bring the New Year in with one gift to the person of our choice." Zoe looked at him as he pulled out a small black ring box and her heart sped up, "I ain't askin' you to marry me, Zoe, not yet anyways," he told her and she felt herself blush, "It's a promise ring. It's my promise to you that no matter what happens, I'm here for you and I won't leave you when things start to get rocky."

He handed her the box and she took it. Inside was a small gold ring with a sideways ruby heart and their names on it. Tears came to her eyes as he took it from the box and slid it onto her left ring finger. His hand moved up, brushing away a stray tear with his thumb before Wade leaned in and kissed her.

"Happy New Years, Zoe," he muttered against her lips.

"Happy New Years, Wade," she replied before she reclaimed her boyfriend's mouth. Before them, fireworks of green, red, purple, white, and blue exploded into the night.

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><p>Next chapter, Gigi and Roxana will be making their appearance.<p>

So, you guys all know the drill.

Author of Where We Begin = Celeste  
>Celeste ≠ mind reader<br>Not being a mind reader = needs feedback  
>Need for feedback = long chapter<br>Long chapter = lots of reviews  
>Lots of reviews = happy Celeste<br>Happy Celeste = non-snarky Celeste  
>Non-snarky Celeste = quicker chapters with lots of Zoe and Wade<p>

On the other hand  
>Long chapter = little reviews<br>Little reviews = snarky, angry Celeste  
>Snarky, angry Celeste = Zoe and Wade break up<br>Zoe & Wade break up = depressed Zoe & Wade coming to live with me  
>Depressed Zoe &amp; Wade coming to live with me = no more Wade in story<br>No more Wade in story = boring story about Zoe being depressed about Wade coming to live with me  
>Boring story about Zoe being depressed about Wade coming to live with me = have to resort to GeorgeLemon/Lavon drama to make it interesting  
>Have to resort to GeorgeLemon/Lavon drama to make it interesting = George hates Lavon and Lemon for the rest of his life  
>George hates Lavon and Lemon for the rest of his life = Lemon never speaking to Lavon again<br>Lemon never speaking to Lavon again = the only interesting thing going on is the old ladies gossiping about how it's boring in town now because everyone is either depressed or not speaking to each other.

Cliftnote version: Option #1- Review and Wade will stay in the story or Option #2- don't review and Wade leaves the story forever.

So review or not, where this story goes is up to you. :D

Happy 2012!


	4. BI: Old Friends & Pasts

Yuck, so I got back to school and got sick. We thought it was pneumonia (again, not fun), but the fever broke this afternoon and so I was able to finally concentrate long enough to write the rest of this chapter. I had one chapter done on another story, lucky, and was able to post that. I must have been delusional though at that point, because I was getting ready to go to school (on a Sunday morning?) and I was walking around in a tank top and short shorts (when it was in the 20s outside, might I add.) I'm sure my roommates are all very relieved that it was only a cold though. Last time I gave one of my roommates pneumonia, but I didn't believe that was what it was. (Stupid, evil, writer's blocking colds!)

So finally, here it is.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>Zoe skated across the ice, landing a triple Lutz, lifting her leg up behind her as she skated. Higher, higher, and higher behind her it raised into the air, until it was straight above her as she gracefully reached for her other ankle, gliding backwards. She glanced upwards for a second and spotted her two New Yorker friends who had just arrived.<p>

"Gigi!" she called, bringing her leg back down and straightening up, "Hey Roxana!"

"Hey there, Zi-Zi," Roxana cheered back.

"Watch this!" she shouted back to them. She took off, skating as fast as she could on the small lake, gaining some speed before she jumped, performing a camel spin before sliding into a sit spin, holding her body so that her nose touched her knee, coming back up to perform a Biellmann spin. The combination of the moves was her signature.

"Well, well, well," the blonde said to their friend, "Zonne Reinhardt has returned back among the living." Zoe curtsied on the ice, skating off to meet them.

"Wow, Zi-Zi, what put you back on ice?" Roxana asked. The thing about Roxana was she only called Zoe "Zi-Zi" when they were face to face. She never called her that over the phone. Roxana was strange like that.

"It snowed," Zoe joked as Gigi handed her the blade guards for her skates. The others laughed. Roxana picked up a glob of snow, packing it together with her gloves so that it was nice and round before throwing it at Gigi, ducking as the blonde retaliated. Soon, Zoe joined in on their crazy little snowball fight and they were building up forts to keep themselves protected, just like if they were little kids.

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><p>Lemon Breeland knew there was something just not right about that Zoe Hart. She still said that, even though Zoe had been here for months. That's why she was here on the mayor's property, Lavon's property, sneaking around by Zoe Hart's house.<p>

"Seriously though Zoe, you been working on that donut," a second little brunette girl by the lake called over to the doctor, her accent ranging more Canadian that New Yorker, "Have you actually gotten to where you can do it the donut into a one-handed Biellmann?"

"Well, I've been practicing," Zoe told the girl and the blonde besides the girl. "Want to see?" They both nodded and she could have sworn she heard Zoe say, "Let's see if I can actually pull this off."

She watched her skate out onto the ice, not even realizing the doctor was wearing skates until she had moved. She looked her loop around the lake once before skating into the middle and doing a sort of jump into midair where she swung her leg up. Lemon watched as Zoe spun around a few times once she landed, her leg spinning up behind her. She observed the doctor grab her foot with one hand, her body parallel to the ice. Then she stared as Zoe started to pull her leg up over her head and then…

"Ow!" and then the words that came from that tiny brunette as she landed on the ice made the blonde haired belle's eyes widen. Those words were definitely not English!

"Zi-Zi, you okay, sweetie?" the other brunette asked as the two observers rushed to her.

"I don't think I'm ever meant to do that move. Every single time!" Lemon watched the blonde girl, the one who had came to Bluebell before, help the doctor up. "Ow!" she cried, rubbing her backside, "I think I bruised my tailbone."

Zoe Hart ice-skated? Well, that did make sense, here living in New York in every thing. They had snow there and probably lots of ice-skating rinks. Lemon had only been ice-skating once when she was real young. Delia Ann wanted to have a unique birthday party that year. She always remember the feeling though. She thought she was flying, gliding the way it had felt.

"Let's get you something for that," Zoe's one friend said comfortingly.

"No!" the doctor snapped. "I am going to do this until I get it right!"

"You don't have to," the other girl, the little brunette, told her, but Dr. Hart would hear none of it.

"No Roxana, I am going to get this right. I'll stay here all night if I have to, but I'm going to get this _right_."

Lemon watched the two girls, Roxana and the blonde, sigh as they sat down in the snow, watching Zoe's tries as, time and time again, she fell, each and every time and each fall looking more painful. It seemed like every time the doctor fell, she fell harder than the last. Even Lemon started to wince.

Figure skating had been Lemon's favorite sport to watch during the Winter Olympics. On T.V., they all made it appear so much easier that it was. The people on there could just fly across the ice so confidently. She remembered watching the 1998 Winter Olympics, watching entranced as the four Americans preformed, Tara Lipinski, the first place winner, Michelle Kwan, who took second, Nichole Bobek, and the girl was routing for to win, Zonne Reinhardt.

She didn't know why but the girl seemed so confident as she moved across the ice, that even though she now despised all things New York, from New York, or about New York, the place where the Dutch-American skater was from, she still thought she would have placed first that year. Somehow, she had just disappeared off the face of the earth.

Wade used to tease Lemon about her obsession with something she'd never even seen. That boy thought he was so high and mighty just because he'd go stay with his Northern grandparents over the summer and winter breaks, his mama's parents. Wade's mama was something else, something else indeed.

"Okay!" she heard Zoe yell, "I give up for right now!"

"Maybe if you try that whole routine…" the blonde offered.

Roxana snorted. "Like she even remembers that whole routine, Gigi."

"I do!" Zoe cried brightly, taking a sip from a water bottle one of the two newcomers had brought. Gigi motioned for her to start. Lemon watched as she glided around the lake, warming up and stretching her arms, before she slid into her position to begin. She looked at Gigi and Roxana, ready to start. They both nodded, Gigi starting music on some little device.

Then she took off and Lemon's jaw dropped as she followed the doctor's movements as she went easily through complicated jumps, spins, and other moves. Moves Lemon didn't know the name of and could hardly guess. Her eyes widened as the young doctor spun like a ballet figurine inside a music box. She looked as Zoe learned over, grabbing her one foot as the other came up straight above her. She was amazed that she could continue to skate so easily. Lemon wondered how much Zoe had to skate to become as graceful as some of those skaters on T.V.

Zoe closed her eyes as she preformed her old, familiar routine that she had been working on for competitions. It was the first routine that Miss Dana had let her do with everything she had learned in there, the whole thing a showcase of her skills. When she opened her eyes, she was no longer on the lake, with only Gigi and Roxana watching. She was in her high school's ice rink. They had a hockey team there and they allowed anyone to skate after school while the team wasn't practicing. Needless to say, Zoe had been in there every free minute of that she could. It brought back cheerful memories.

She remembers being fourteen, skating on that rink in Rockefeller Center, flying over the ice, she had fallen once when she collided with a handsome golden-brown haired boy. He had given her a cheesy, partially crooked grin and helped her back on her feet like a real gentleman, not letting go of her hands until she was back on her feet. She didn't ask his name, he didn't ask for hers. She had seen his mother, a beautiful blonde woman who's hair seemed to glow in the light. She had told Zoe that she was a wonderful skater and apologized profoundly for her son running into her, not listening as Zoe insisted it was her fault. Then the boy was gone. Come to think of it, maybe that's why she had dated Zach. He had the same hair color as the boy, similar face shape, but not the eyes or that smile. In a few ways, he had been Zoe's first real crush, despite never seeing him again.

Then the music began to slow. Lemon watched Zoe come off the ground once more as she spun in the air, landing and giving a half bow, half curtsy. Roxana stood, squealing happily about how Zoe had don't the move she wanted her to. Lemon took this as her time to take her leave, sneaking back the way she had came, not thinking of the footsteps in the snow. She didn't even hear when Gigi spoke.

"Yup, Zonne is definitely back."

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><p>Zoe stepped into the practice, making the mistake of wearing her sleeves pushed back under her heavy coat. Brick and Addie were talking at the front desk, something about how he was surprised that a good number of his patients wanted to see the New Yorker. They both glanced at the young doctor as she came in, exchanging polite hellos as she stepped up to the desk.<p>

"Good Lord, what happened to you?" she heard Brick ask. Zoe looked up at him, noticing he was staring at her arms. They were covered in black and purple discolored splotches. She shook her head and tugged her sleeves down.

"I… fell," she lied, only to realize that wasn't necessarily a lie. She had fallen, multiple times yesterday on the ice.

"And just how did you fall?" the native Southern asked her, not realizing he actually sounded concerned about her wellbeing.

"There was some ice by my porch and I slipped." This was, in fact, a lie. There wasn't any ice by her porch, just inches and inches of glorious snow.

Wade had put the old shutters onto her windows with the help of her dad, making the house warmer for Zoe and the three girls. He told her that they weren't used much, that's why they had taken them down. There was a fireplace that went from the bedroom to the living room, something that looked like decoration, but Zoe now realized, was usable.

Gigi had brought down heavy blackout curtains that also helped to keep the house insolated, even bringing a curtain for the front door that helped cut down on drafts. She had also been very thoughtful, bringing down some of Zoe's heavy comforters from her apartment. Overall, the little house by the lake was extremely warm and very cozy. More than once, Zoe found herself hoping that Wade might come over for the night, just to hold her in his arms. She had never liked a guy as much as she liked Wade. Lavon had generously offered Dr. and Mrs. Hart a room in his house, free of charge, for the time being as they were staying here for a few weeks, rather than staying in a hotel in town. Mrs. Hart found the plantation "charming".

"Is that an engagement ring?" Addie asked Zoe once Brick was gone.

"Oh, no. It's a promise ring," the young doctor exclaimed gleefully. "Isn't it just lovely?"

"Wade got you that, didn't he?" the nurse inquired knowingly. Zoe blushed and nodded. "Young love," she sighed wistfully, "I don't think I've seen Wade this smitten with anyone." This made Zoe beam.

Her good mood, however, was quickly spoiled by the person the who walked through the door.

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><p>25 reviews minimum before next chapter. I've been sick for the better half of the weekend and this week! I need some cheering up and the best way to do it is to review! :)<p> 


	5. BI: Exes & Xs

Okay, so as promised, I finally finished this chapter! I'm sorry it took so long. I was moving and catching up on my school work that I got somewhat behind in and have been working on a major project that's due this upcoming Thursday. Still, I feel like I've let you guys down for not posting sooner, so I'm sorry. :(

So lots of things are going to happen in this chapter. That's why I feel a little refresher of last chapter is in order.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p><em>"Is that an engagement ring?" Addie asked Zoe once Brick was gone.<em>

_"Oh, no. It's a promise ring," the young doctor exclaimed gleefully. "Isn't it just lovely?"_

_"Wade got you that, didn't he?" the nurse inquired knowingly. Zoe blushed and nodded. "Young love," she sighed wistfully, "I don't think I've seen Wade this smitten with anyone." This made Zoe beam._

_Her good mood, however, was quickly spoiled by the person the who walked through the door._

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><p>The old door on the Victorian styled house creaked open. Footfalls came softly with padding through the hall with rubber soles. Another two sets of footsteps came racing through the yard and up the stairs into the practice. "Zoe, I'm glad I was able to find you."<p>

Zoe stiffened quickly, freezing. She knew that voice. That voice shouldn't be in Bluebell. That voice should be a thousand miles away from Bluebell, in New York, nowhere near her… not anymore. She whipped around to face none other than Zach as Roxana and Gigi came racing in. Roxana, though out of breath, was the first to start. "The little sneak stole my PDA and found out we were coming. I'm so sorry, Zi-Zi. I knew I should have had Bobby go and _keep_ _you_ _outside_," Roxana all but hissed these words at Zach, giving him a death glare.

Robert, Bobby, was the bouncer at Nacht. He used to be in some sort of security before, but the girls weren't sure where. Some rumored that he was once a White House security detail; others say a private bodyguard for some multimillionaire. To Zoe, Gigi, and Roxana, it didn't matter though. He was Roxana's father's good friend and he wouldn't let the girls get hurt. No doubt, had he known Zach had broken up with and humiliated Zoe, Zach would have found himself having a room in the very hospital he works at.

"Get out," Zoe spat at her ex, "I have nothing to say to you."

"Really? Because you left in the middle of our conversation and you changed your phone number. But you've come to this, err- rather charming town, I see, when you could be back up in New York with me." The young doctor was trying everything she could not to hurt her ex. She really was. Breathing techniques that were supposed to calm you. Check. Finding a focal point. Check. She didn't have anger issues, but something about Zach really pushed her nerves. Zach leaned in closer, the scent of the obnoxious cologne overwhelming her, he press his lips right by the corner of Zoe's mouth, ignoring her pushing and shoving him away from her. "We were so good together, Zoe."

He leaned back. Zoe's was at her wit's end with him. Before anyone could stop her, she punched him, a nice strong punch, right in the nose. When her ex recoiled, she could see the blood dripping from it. Gigi laughed at that, knowing her best friend was never one for being violent. Roxana raised her eyebrow dramatically and sighed. "Maybe I should just call Uncle Charlie down here," she said, mocking Zach.

Everyone knew that Charlie, Roxana's "uncle" was "involved" with the Mob. He was burly and very muscular and the mere mention of his name made Zach pale three shades, stepping back from Roxana. He tripped into a chair, the chair in question making a loud screech as he did. Brick came running out. "What in the world is all the ruckus about?"

Zoe walked into her office, yelling, "This is one patient I don't mind if you take!"

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><p>Wade turned around, back to the bar. There was a rerun game on the T.V. The Rammer Jammer was actually pretty quiet. George Tucker stepped inside, sitting down at the bar. "June 16th," he declared. Wade looked at him funny, but didn't comment as he checked his phone. He was expecting a call and it was making him antsy waiting for it.<p>

"What's June 16th?" the bartender asked, passing the lawyer a beer. He opened it and took a long gulp.

"We finally set a date. June 16th, because according to Lemon, only fashionable weddings take place in the first month of summer." Wade rolled his eyes.

"Your girlfriend is nuts. You'll get heatstroke before she even makes it down the isle in that penguin suit you gotta wear," he said, glancing down at him phone again. No one had called. Why hadn't they called?

"Zoe?" George asked, noting how his old friend kept glancing down at the phone. Wade shook his head.

"My uncle's in the hospital again. They were supposed to call and tell me what happened, but no one's called." George nodded. Wade's mama's brother, Wade's uncle, had gotten real ill around this time last year. Wade hadn't told many people about his uncle, but as Wade's attorney, it was hard for George not to notice the large monthly income that definitely didn't come from all but running the Rammer Jammer. He had asked once or twice, but George had gotten no answers from Wade, other than his uncle sends him the money. A shrill ring went up and Wade looked down, walking outside quickly after yelling to Shelly that he'd be right back.

While Wade was outside, another man stepped inside. His nose looked crooked, like it had been broken recently. The skin just below his eye was blackening, like he had been in a fight recently. George didn't recognize him. He had to be new in town. He also looked like he had just had an awful day. "Where's the bartender?" the man asked, a New York accent in his voice.

"He'll be back in a few," George told him. "Don't take this the wrong way, but what happened to your face?"

The guy looked at George who was sipping his beer calmly. "My ex-girlfriend punched me in the face after I almost kissed her."

"Let me guess," George started, "Your ex-girlfriend is Zoe Hart." The man's face showed his shock. "And you tried to kiss her?" The man nodded and the lawyer shook his head, "You are very lucky Wade, he's the bartender, isn't here right now. You should probably go and be thankful that it was Zoe that hit you."

The man, Zoe's ex, raised his brow at George's words. "Zoe's dating a bartender?" He let out a low whistle. "She sure has lowered her standards. First this middle of nowhere town, then a bartender." He chuckled. "No one back at the hospital will believe how low she's gotten."

George grounded his teeth together, and was instantly thankful when his fiancée joined his side. "Well hello there," she said too cheerfully, holding a hand out to Zoe's ex to shake. He took the belle's hand warily. "You should probably get all your things gathered up and take the next bus out of town if you think so lowly of it. It just so happens that Wade is a wonderful man and Dr. Hart is just so happy with him." This was suspicious to George. He wondered when Lemon had spoken with Zoe. Regardless, the man sized up Lemon quickly, then stood any walked out of the Rammer Jammer as fast as he could, very angrily.

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><p>It was a few days later and George was in Mobile with some depositions. Brick was at a conference in Montgomery, but he was supposed to be home tonight too. That was why Lemon was patiently chopping up carrots and celery and placing it inside the pan with the food she was making. The oven and the phones all seemed to be going off at once and she slipped and picked up the knife by the blade, but stupidly pulled it out, and sliced open her hand.<p>

She didn't want to call an ambulance. The cut wasn't that bad. Still, it would need stitches and her daddy wouldn't be home until later. Shutting off the oven and the stove, she washed her hands and wrapped the one, grudgingly heading over to the practice where Zoe Hart was. Under any other circumstance, she wouldn't dare go ask Zoe Hart for help; however, she also didn't want her hand to get infected.

Addie pointed her into the room where there was that table for the patients to sit on. She heard Addie talking to Dr. Hart and then listened as Zoe came into the room.

"So what happened?" Zoe asked as she grabbed some stuff to clean the cut out.

"I slipped over the phone cord that was on the floor in the kitchen and accidently grabbed the knife by the blade," she said with an obvious tightness in her voice.

Zoe nodded, cleaning the cut out. Lemon flinched as the cold alcohol stung the cut and she closed her hand instinctively. "You need to keep your hand flat," the doctor said calmly. Begrudgingly, she obeyed. "George told me you all but put Zach on a bus and sent him out of town, so thank you for that." Lemon hardly had even realized the brunette had spoke. The belle nodded.

"It's fine." She winced as she saw Zoe pick up a needle and thread it. She hated needles more than she hated the person holding the needle.

"So my mom saw something rather interesting a few days ago. Someone, about medium height, blonde, a woman, sneaking off the plantation, coming from the direction of my house," Zoe stated, "It was just before sunset, on the second." Lemon avoided looking at the doctor.

"Maybe you should install some cameras then. That sounds like a real serious problem. You wouldn't want anybody watching you ice skating." Then she bit her tongue when she realized she pretty much just admitted she had been doing it. "Or whatever it was you were doing that day," she quickly added, sparing a glance at Zoe who was smirking.

"You're a worse liar than Roxana, and that's saying something," the doctor said with a half smile. "Why were you spying on me in the first place though, I want to know."

Lemon swallowed, feeling like a little kid who just got caught eating their Halloween candy when they weren't supposed to. It took her a moment to compose her thoughts; it was an embarrassing notion for her, Lemon Breeland, head of the Belles and a member of the Mobile Bay Memory Matrons, didn't know what to say. "I wasn't spying," she defended lamely, "I was mere observing." She stuck out her hand to her. "So are you going to finish, or what?" Zoe stepped back, holding up her hands, a smirk on her face. Lemon looked down at her hand. There, across the palm, were neat stitches, done in such a way that it would hardly scar, if it even did. She hadn't even felt Zoe stick the needle through the skin.

"Are you going to tell me why you were 'observing' me?" she countered.

"Because, Zoe Hart," Lemon said, standing up to her full height, "There is something very strange about you and New York and all of it!" she yelled, stomping her foot and throwing her fists into the air like a child having a temper tantrum.

"Lemon, as the person who just sewed your hand shut, I am highly advising you to sit down," Zoe ordered. The blonde sat back onto the chair and Zoe pulled the paper open that held the gauze, unrolling Lemon's fist and cleaning it again with more rubbing alcohol." Now let's start with an easy question. Why do you hate me so much? You hated me the minute I set one toe in this town. Why?" She took the gauze, measuring it and cutting it. "Is it because you think George was going to come after me because I'm from New York, because he's not. Yes, he and I will talk about up there, but it's not like I'm trying to steal your fiancé. I'm not that kind of girl. We have something in common, so we get along. Don't you get along with people you have stuff in common with?" Lemon nodded as the tiny doctor cut the tape and held the gauze over Lemon's hand as she taped it down. "So why do you hate me so much? I'm not going to steal George from you, I'm not interested in taking away your spot in the town, so why is it?"

Lemon turned away. Why did she hate Zoe Hart so much? The brunette just stated some of her biggest worries shouldn't even exist. She forgot the doctor was dating Wade. Granted, nobody, not even the mayor had know that little fact until Wade gave Zoe his mama's pearls for Christmas. "I'm… not quite sure," she said slowly, her voice hardly more than a whisper.

"Then maybe we can start over?" Lemon looked at the doctor, seeing that she was indeed serious, she nodded. She composed herself quickly, sticking out her hand to her.

"Hi, I'm Lemon Breeland. I hear you and my daddy are gonna be working together now for a while."

Zoe smiled, now as arrogantly as her smirk had been, taking Lemon's hand and shaking it, "Zoe Hart. It's nice to meet you, Lemon." When she dropped the other woman's hand, she straighten up. "Okay, so in a week, you are going to come back and let me check the stitches. They should be able to come out by then, but if anything comes up before then, you can ask your dad or me. Make sure you keep it clean and don't go picking up knives by the blade again." Lemon stood, smoothing her skirts and nodded, walking out.

"Have a nice evening, Dr. Hart." Zoe smiled.

"You can call me Zoe, you know?" Lemon turned from the door.

"Have a lovely evening, Zoe," she said with a half sarcastic tone that made Zoe almost laugh.

"You too," she told the blonde, before she grabbed her things and headed out.

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><p>Gigi and Roxana were now both back in New York. Her parents had gone back. It was quiet again at the plantation, with Wade still at work and Lavon on a starting over date with Didi. Zoe slid on her skates and went back out onto the ice.<p>

"_Ow!" eight-year-old Zonne muttered as she slipped on a piece of ice. She hated that her mother forced her to go to those stupid ballet class with that evil teacher, be she had recently discovered that she could combine skating and ballet. A couple weren't paying attention and slipped on the ice as well, the man's blade going into Zonne's are as his weight broke it. "OW!" she scream, tears coming to her eyes, "My arm, my arm!"_

_The man jumped off, looking frightened, "Somebody call nine-one-one!" he yelled._

"_I already did," a Russian accent came. Zonne looked up to see a woman. She was older, but somewhat pretty. "Hello there, zeisele." Zonne grimaced up at the woman. She knew the nickname well; some of her older relatives called her that. That meant at the very least, the woman was Jewish, like her and her mom's family. She decided that she liked the woman. "You are a wonderful skater."_

"_Thank you," Zonne said softly._

"_Have you ever thought about skating as a career? With a little training, you could very easily make it to the Olympics." She gave the Russian lady a little half shrug with the arm that didn't hurt. Zonne, though only eight, knew enough to know that her arm was probably broken. Gigi had described it once to her after her best friend had broken her arm._

"_I dunno," she mumbled, and then spoke up, "When are the doctors going to be here? I want to see my tatte. He's a doctor too."_

"_They said they'd be here soon. Just sit still for a little while, zeisele."_

"_Where are you from?" the little brunette girl asked with childlike innocent, her brown doe-eyes wide._

"_I'm from the Soviet Union, from near Leningrad. Do you know where that is?" Zonne shook her little head, earmuffs shaking nearly off her head._

"_I know where the Soviet Union is. My teacher told me it is this really big country that used to be Russia, but then the emperor, she said is like the king, stepped down and these other people became the ruler and that's why we know it as Soviet Union."_

"_Leningrad used to be Petrograd. Before it was Saint Petersburg. It is in the northwestern part of the Soviet Union." Zonne nodded her head slowly._

"_Okay."_

"_I'm Dana Smith."_

"_That doesn't sound Russian though," Zonne argued with the woman. She smiled._

"_No, it was Dinochka Sidorova. My family always called me Dana," the little brunette girl nodded as the ambulance pulled up and the paramedics came out to get Zonne._

"_I'm Zonne, but everyone always calls me Zoe."_

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><p>So that is the story of how Zoe met her ice skating coach. Her and Lemon made "peace". It just means Lemon won't see her as a threat anymore. That part was inspired by my one-shot in What If? Chapter 4 aptly title: Zoe made peace with Lemon.<p>

Zoe's ex, Zach. You all met him in Chapter 5 of What If? during my three shot that spun off and began this. He's a jerk, Zoe thinks he's a jerk, and George and Lemon think he's a jerk. Go Zoe! She punched him in the face. How she broke his nose, she didn't. Brick "fixed" it. In other words, in the last chapter of this, Brick was asking where she got the bruises from on her arm. She told Brick she fell. He didn't seem convinced, Zoe noted that she thought it sounded like he cared. He did. He was listening in on the conversation, which is normally what's happened when someone asks "What's going on here?" or something similar. That's why Zach is so afraid of Lemon _Breeland._ That was implied, but you don't really get it because I didn't include Brick's POV.

Zeisele is a Yiddish endearment meaning "little sweetie".

The stuff that Miss Dana, Zoe's figure skating coach, told her able St. Petersburg is true. During WWI, Nicholas II changed the name to Petrograd because he thought St. Petersburg sounded too German. It was changed to Leningrad after the Bolshivicks took over.

35 reviews for the next chapter. So to the tune of to If you're happy and you know it:

If you're happy Hart of Dixie's back on tonight, review  
>If you liked this chapter, review<br>If you're happy about Hart of Dixie  
>And you really want to show it<br>If you liked this chapter, review!


	6. BI: In Life & In Memory

This takes place a few weeks later after the last chapter. Wade's uncle has passed away. He is Wade's mother's brother, but they weren't close. Still, he was giving Wade money constantly because of something you'll find out next chapter because I haven't thought up yet. :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing (sadly). Although, I did make up Liam, and Audri, and Roxana. I also made up Great-Grandpa Friedrich, and Great-Grandma Anika, and Aunt Jeana.

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><p>Wade glanced at the brunette who was asleep on his shoulder. The blonde flight attendant asked for the sixth time in the past hour if he was sure he didn't need anything. Finally, he let her get a blanket for Zoe. He hated planes. He hated them with a burning passion. Now, here he was on one, with his very much sleeping girlfriend using him as a pillow while he was left to worry about everything that could go wrong with the flight.<p>

Carefully, not to wake Zoe, he shifted out and moved to the bathroom. When he exited, the flight attendant was standing by the door, grinning at him largely. "No! I don't need a pillow, or a drink, or anything else!" he finally snapped.

"I'm sorry! I just can't help it."

"Help what?"

"It's just… you and your girlfriend… you two are so cute together. You see so few people like that nowadays, so in love! It makes me really happy to see, that's why I kept coming back. I didn't mean to make you think I was flirting with you. I just like happy love stories. So I had to find some excuse to come see it. I mean, I've always wanted a boyfriend who would let me use his shoulder as a pillow… so she is very good at picking guys because I seem to get all the lousy ones that hate all that fluffy stuff. I mean, come on! My last boyfriend dumped me before he went and got back together with his ex! His ex! And she was like some super sexy super model or something! How am I supposed to compete! And then I saw you and her and I remembered that love does still exists!" She rambled before stilling out her hand to him happily, "I'm Audri, by the way. I wish you and your girlfriend the best."

"I'm Wade. My girlfriend's name is Zoe. And thank you." He walked back to his seat, taking his sleeping girlfriend into his arms and fell asleep as well.

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><p>"Nacht?" Wade asked Zoe as they pulled up, "Isn't this some sort of night club?"<p>

The tiny brunette grinned. "It's also where my apartment is."

"But I thought-" Zoe shook her head.

"That's my family penthouse. This is my apartment. The only other people who live here are Gigi, Roxana, and-"

"Zoe!" A voice yelled, embracing the tiny brunette. Jealousy surged over Wade, even as the man stepped away from _his_ girlfriend. "You must be the famous Wade. Roxi couldn't stop going on about you." He held out his hand to Wade. "I'm Liam, Zoe's brother."

Suddenly, that sudden jealous made Wade feel very foolish as he shook his girlfriend's brother's hand. Zoe had mentioned Liam a few times. "So you're with that crazy little back haired chick?"

Liam wasn't offended, and instead, he chuckled. "I have never heard a more dead on description of her," the other Hart replied, helping Wade with the bags. "I'm really sorry about your loss though," he told Wade. Wade nodded and looked away.

"So how's Germany?" Zoe asked her brother. He shrugged, shaking his head as his sister opened the door to her apartment.

"Crazy, crazy stuff. Some of the guys, they fight you when they wake up, thinking they've been kidnapped and are being held hostage. Others you can't helped but get attached to them, even though you know the odds are against them." His voice was solemn, Zoe touched his arm gently before she moved into the kitchen, grabbing a couple of beers from the refrigerator that she had Roxana stock before they came.

"Liam works in Landstuhl, at the U.S. Military hospital there," she explained to her boyfriend, "He's eleven months younger than me, and yet, somehow, he's a surgeon before me!"

Wade nodded. He had heard about the Military base in Landstuhl.

"Zi Zi! You're back!" the tinier raven-haired girl jumped across the room, lightening the mood, as she squeezed her friend tightly. She pulled back and turned to the Alabaman. "Hi Wade!"

"Hi Roxana," he said, almost awkwardly. She giggled, bouncing over to Liam and pecking his lips quickly.

"Told you that your sister was coming."

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><p>Zoe had grown up in New York. She had lived in New York her whole life, not counting the past several months she's lived in Bluebell and that year she lived in the Netherlands. She had grown up around almost unparallel luxury. Her father was one of the most world-renowned cardio-thoracic surgeons and her mother was successful publicist. Still, as the town car pulled up to the house not too far from Zoe's apartment, she had to admit, she was impressed.<p>

The driver opened the door for them and Wade helped Zoe out. She had dress conservatively in a black dress and jacket for the viewing of Wade's late uncle. It was a closed casket, which was good for Zoe. She hated losing a patient, and hated even more seeing the body of a person and knowing the doctor that had been trying to help that person had failed. That, and she just really hated seeing corpses. A picture of Wade's uncle sat on top of the coffin, and she easily recognized some of the features they had in common. Wade took her elbow and steered her over to an old woman in a chair, and a woman standing beside them.

"Nana, Aunt Jeana, this is my girlfriend, Dr. Zoe Hart," Wade introduced.

"My, she's so skinny and small," Wade's nana muttered in German to his aunt Jeana.

"And look at her outfit. Another one of those Southerns," Jeana replied. Zoe glanced down at her dress, not seeing anything wrong with it, she looked up and answered in the same language.

"I don't see anything wrong with my outfit, and I'm from New York." Both of the women, and Wade, stopped and looked at Zoe in surprise.

"You speak German?" Wade asked, in English, only knowing a few words of the language. He didn't know what she or his relatives were really saying, only that his girlfriend had definitely replied in the same language.

"Fluently," the brunette replied, "After all, it was practically required of me to know. Great-Grandpa Friedrich was Prussian. He a really nice guy. We used to talk on the phone every week, despite the fact that it was really long distance." Zoe smiled wistfully, remembering her father's mother's father. He had always been so nice to her, even though every year for her birthday or Christmas, being that he was on her dad's side, he would send her Dutch guilders, which she'd have to exchange for American money. She didn't quite remember the story of how he and Great-Grandma Anika had met. She just remembered that they had loved each other very much and she looked almost exactly like her great grandmother.

"Ah," Wade's nana said. She smiled, nodding, then shared a glance with Jeana. Jeana nodded as well. "Please take a seat, Zoe."

* * *

><p>"Why are we here?" Lemon complained to her fiancé. She had insisted coming along with George to New York. Since George was Wade's lawyer, and Wade's uncle had left Wade a small fortune, he needed to come sign. Lemon didn't want her fiancé to forget her this time, so she insisted on coming. She also wanted to see what was with all the fuss about New York.<p>

That is why she was standing there outside the pounding nightclub in a part of Manhattan known as the 'Meatpacking District'. Lemon shuttered at the name. Why would anyone want to live or shop in a place called the 'Meatpacking District'?

"Well, Wade said he was staying here. I think he gave me the wrong address." Lemon huffed.

"Figures." The lawyer pulled out his phone and texted Wade, knowing that if his friend was inside, he wouldn't be able to hear over the music.

"He said he's inside and we're on the list." Lemon looked strangely at her fiancé as he dragged her over there to the bouncer at the front of the line. "George Tucker, Lemon Breeland. We're on the list," he said to the man. He looked down for a second before he opened the door to the two.

Inside the pulsing club, lights were blaring, flashing over the crowd. There was hardly room between bodies. The air was thick with sweat and alcohol and music, playing loudly over the noise of the club. Lemon was pretty sure this is what Hell looked like. Then she saw Zoe Hart, dancing with a man that definitely wasn't Wade, near the bar. Wade appeared next to them. "Hey, we'll have to get Zoe. She knows the code for upstairs. It's quiet there."

"You know she's _dancing_ with some other man." Wade smirked at Lemon.

"That's her 'little' brother, Liam. He's dating her friend." He tapped his girlfriend's shoulder, motioning to George and Lemon. He gave a nod to Liam, and the four moved towards the hall. In the hall, where the noise was less, Zoe touched the number pad outside an elevator door. The doors opened and group stepped inside. "Your apartment?" Wade asked and Zoe nodded.

"I thought this was a club?" George asked.

"It is. It's also residential in the upper floor. Roxana, Gigi, Liam, and I all have our apartments here. It's cheaper that way, since we're already paying for the building to have the club downstairs."

"You own _this_?" Lemon asked incuriously, "Why would anyone want to own anything in somewhere called the _Meatpacking District_?" She said this and Meatpacking District like they were curse words.

"Roxana is the boss. She runs the place. Gigi and I are just silent partners for the most part. It's actually a really fashionable part of town. Thirty years ago," Zoe wrinkled her nose, "that was another story."

* * *

><p>For those of you that don't know, the Meatpacking District is a real place in New York. In the 1990s, there was a restoration of it and it became a fashionable neighborhood. (Samantha in Sex and the City moves to an expensive apartment there.<p>

Wade's grandma is from Germany. She doesn't like Southerns. This caused tension between Wade's mom and her mother and made them estranged before she died in Wade's teenage years. Wade's Aunt Jeana is his (unnamed) late uncle's wife. She took German in high school to impress Wade's uncle. They're high school sweethearts. They both assume Zoe's a Southern, but they are both impressed that she speaks German fluently. Well, she sort of lied about that. She knows some German, enough to keep from being insulted in it. She really is fluent in Dutch, English, and Yiddish. Zoe's grandma (who I think I might put in next chapter because I have an interesting story picked out for her) taught her what German she knows. I think next chapter is going to be a very background oriented chapter for both Wade's family and Zoe's family.

No. I don't write funerals. They're too depressing for me. When George and Lemon arrive to New York, it's a few days later and the funeral has already happened. Liam is awesome! He's a hero, a real life angel... sort of. Landstuhl is a real place in Germany and a real US Army base for those who don't know. It has the largest U.S. Army hospital outside the continental U.S.

Loved Zoe's dress last episode. I was a bit (largely) jealous. Can't wait for this episode!

Reviews! 40 reviews will make me thrilled! 40+ will make me post this first before Forever This Way. You guys have been great reviews.


	7. BI: In Past & In Present

Okay, so I wasn't planning on finishing this so quickly. Oh well.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>Wade watched his girlfriend leave the room. George sent Lemon to go and be polite and civilized with Zoe. He held back a laugh because that sentence was definitely an oxymoron. The words Lemon, Zoe, and civilized was his grandmother and his father getting along. It would never happen. His mama all but became disowned when she married Earl Kinsella.<p>

"_Mama?" Anna Louise Kinsella turned. Formerly, she had been known as Annaliese Friedrich Starr, heiress to the magazine the US Star. It had a little of everything in it. All the latest celebrity gossip, sports, business. "Why does Nana hate Dad so much?"_

_Anna Louise shook her head at her young son. "She doesn't hate him, my darling, she just… doesn't understand him. They don't know him like I know him. Your daddy, he's a good man. He loves you boys more than anything in the world. Remember that now." He nodded._

"It says here that your uncle wants you to take custody of your cousin, Johann Friedrich Starr," George said, pulling Wade's mind back to the present. "Why would he want that?"

"Because he's wife is a witch." George looked stunned at Wade's answer. "She is. She's forcing the poor kid to go to some prestigious boarding school because she doesn't deal well with kids. When Uncle Res was healthy, Jack went to school in America. When he got sick, Jack was shipped off to England to boarding school because _Jeana_ doesn't deal with children."

George flinched at Wade's tone. "So your uncle knew you'd take care of his son?"

"That's why he's been sending me the money for years. He wanted e to stock it away so the when he died, I could take care of Jack and he could come live with me."

"It's going to be hard. Even though he wrote that he wants you to take care of his son, they'll be reluctant to send him away from his mother." Wade raised an eyebrow and snorted loudly.

"I doubt that. She doesn't even know when his birthday is. Last year for his birthday, she went on a shopping spree in Los Angeles. She hasn't talked to him in a while, and he's staying in the free apartment that Roxana's dad made for just in case they had another friend or something. She didn't even acknowledge him at Uncle Res' funeral. When she saw him afterwards, she wrinkled her nose and said, 'I didn't send for you'. She didn't even know he had come to his father's funeral. Jeana is not a good person. Nana won't take care of him any more that she'd take care of me. I'm the only person left to take care of him."

"_Wade is my son, mother! Austin and Hunter are my babies. Earl is my husband, mother, and I'm not leaving them!" Anna Louise yelled at Nana, unaware that Wade stood on the other side of the wall. He glanced down at the tape recorder in his hand, catching everything. It had been a gift from Uncle Res._

"_I won't accept those stinking Southerns in my house. Since you like it so much down there, don't even both coming back here next year."_

"_Mom, that's ridiculous," Uncle Res's voice came from the living room, "This is your daughter. Her sons are your grandsons."_

"_Good, since you love them so much," she spat out, "I don't want to see your kid either. Get out of my sight, both of you. You are both disgraces to this family. What would your father say?"_

"_That you're being a selfish-"_

"Wade, have you heard a word I said?" Wade blinked, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I heard. We have a pretty solid case against them. My nana disowned us, Jack, my brothers, and I, along with my mama and uncle." Wade stood up, disappearing into the bedroom, returning with a relatively small tape recorder. He pressed play.

"_Res_," a condescending voice came, "_I didn't marry into this family to start defending them. You're the one that wanted that kid."_

"_He's your son, too, Jeana!_" His uncle Res' voice came.

"_No he's not. You want Jimmy-"_

"_His name is Johann. Not Jimmy!"_

"_Potato, patato. Like I was saying, you can keep him."_ Wade pressed stop on the tape and looked up at George.

"Evidence enough?"

* * *

><p>Lemon had heard once or twice about the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink. She didn't know why she had followed Zoe Hart in a atrocious, awful yellow car, driven by some greasy guy who made crude jokes and flirted with them every time the car went over a bump in the road. She didn't know why Zoe Hart carried her ice skates from Bluebell to New York, or even brought them there in the first place. When they stopped, Zoe paid the man, as Lemon tried to figure out where she could bath to clean herself of the filth from the cab. She hated people knocking into her as they walked.<p>

"Why are we coming here with all these people?" Lemon cringed as another person rushing banged into her arm.

"You were spying on me to watch me skate in Bluebell. So clearly, you must like ice skating, even if you're just watching it." Lemon frowned.

"I've only been once." Zoe gave a smile to the obviously uncomfortable Southern Belle who was shying away from the crowd's touch, like an awkward fish on dry land.

"Well, I'm going to teach you some basics." She did want to know how to skate, to know if it was as easy as Zonne Reinhardt, and Zoe, and the other skaters all made it seem. "Stay right here, I'll be back in a few minutes."

Lemon stood perfectly still, trying to avoid getting hit as Zoe paid for them to go on the rink. She watched the tiny doctor explain to the lady that, yes, she did have skates already, but Lemon needed some still. She handed Lemon a roll of socks, which the blonde looked at curiously. "But I already have a pair on."

"Trust me, they're going to be wet and dirty by the time we finish. Put those socks in your shoes and we'll put it in one of those lockets." Lemon obeyed, sitting down and changing her shoes into the skates Zoe had brought her. When all of their stuff was in one of the lockers, Zoe led her onto the ice for the first time since that one time in elementary school. "Ok, so the basics. Do you know how to balance?"

Lemon's eyebrows furrowed. "Like on one leg?" The brunette laughed.

"No, on both feet, while skating, without holding the side." The blonde attempted it, moving a few feet before her legs seemed to go forward without the rest of her body going and she let out a shriek as her bottom hit the ice.

"First time?" A man asked as he helped her up. Lemon nodded. "Eh, Zoe's a great teacher," he said, winking at the brunette, who skated over to join them. "How have you been? I haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm living in Bluebell, Alabama," she told the man, "I don't think you'll see me in the hospital." They both laughed. "Lemon, this is Paul. We went to med school and completed our residency together. Paul, this is Lemon Breeland. Her father's the other doctor I work with at the GP in Bluebell." Paul shook his head.

"So the Old Man doesn't like you much?" The Chief of Surgery was Paul's father. Zoe shrugged.

"He said I had the best hands he'd seen in thirty years." Paul's eyes widened.

"Then why did he send you to be a GP?"

"He said my bedside manner stunk." Paul chuckled, holding out a hand to Lemon.

"I can teach you how to balance better than Zoe can. She probably doesn't remember that sort of thing anymore," the other surgeon teased. Zoe rolled her eyes. Lemon went to take his hand, before she pulled back.

"Are you going to kill me or something?" Paul laughed.

"I'm a doctor. I took an oath to help save lives, not take them."

"Are you trying to flirt with me?"

Paul looked appalled that she'd even suggest such a thing. "I'm happily married. My wife is currently gossiping with the women over there. Want to meet her? She's always wanted to move back to Alabama. She's from Huntsville originally."

Lemon smiled sweetly, "My cousin, Betty, she's from Huntsville." With that, Lemon placed her hand on Paul's arm, using a death grip as he helped her stay upright.

Alone on the ice, Zoe found herself taken back to years ago.

"_Zonne, it's time to go!" A young Zonne Reinhardt, only about eleven, looked up to see her namesake's face. _

"_Bubbe! Look what I can do!" She skated, jumping into the air to twirl. Her grandmother clapped._

"_Very good, but it's getting late, Gindele." Zonne looked up at her namesake with her large doe eyes, the reason for her grandmother's nickname for her, silently begging to stay longer. "I'm sorry, but you're mother said no later than eight pm."_

"_Like she really cares," Zonne muttered, "Besides Bubbe, I don't have school tomorrow. It's Saturday. Please," she whined, holding out the 'eas' in please, "I really need to prefect my triple axel double toe loop if I'm going to go anywhere with my skating. Miss Dana said I'm close, but not perfect, and the judges would totally count off on that." Her grandmother shook her head, sighing, and sitting down._

"_I suppose one more hour. It will be our little secret." Zonne beamed at Zonne de Jong._

"_Thank you, thank you, thank you, Bubbe!" she cried, skating back out to perfect the move._

Zoe found herself moving with ease. The few short practice sessions in Bluebell on the ice there before it melted had paid off, she thought, as she effortlessly glided over the ice. Her routine was a simple one, like the one she'd shown her grandmother.

"_You know when I was a girl, I didn't get such freedom." Zonne's eyebrows furrowed._

"_Why not? That's not fair."_

"_When I was a girl, Nazi Germany was taking over Europe. We had to wear the Star of David on all our clothes. Then my family and I were sent to concentration camps-"_

"_Where you met Zeyde?" Zonne asked excitedly. She didn't know much about her real grandfather, other that he was her grandmother's true love. She wondered if her mother even knew her father wasn't her real father. Her grandmother smiled wistfully._

"_Yes, where I met him. Heinz Krauser. He was an officer who had spotted me while I was running to work. He took me one night after dinner, then the next day, I was working for him. I knew some German, so I was able to work for him, doing whatever task he asked."_

"_Did you love him, Bubbe?" A dreamy look came across her grandmother's face._

"_Very much." She pinched Zonne's cheek, "And if it weren't for him, I won't have my darling little gindele here now."_

"Zoe?" Zoe shook her head, smiling brightly at the other brunette who came up to her.

"Hey Vi," she said, hugging Viviana, "I need a big favor from you. I need you to track someone down."

"Of course sweetie," Roxana's cousin answered. Before her world tourist career started, she was a detective. If anyone could find something… or someone, it was Viviana.

* * *

><p>"Monday," George said, getting off the phone, "We have 'til Monday to pull together all the evidence we can that your aunt abandons your cousin. I still have some friends up here who can get us some documents, like her shopping records, phone records, all that sort of thing." Wade gave a grimace.<p>

"Great."

"I brought food!" Zoe called walking in, carrying a large bag. Lemon walked behind her, looking shell-shocked.

"There's too many people," she said, arms wrapped around herself, "I think I'm just going to sit down."

George gave Lemon a kiss on the head. "You'll get used to it." He looked at the box of food in Zoe's hand. "Tell me this is the sweet corn risotto from Per Se."

"It is." George hugged her, taking the box out of her hand.

"We haven't gotten a chance to go. Lemon doesn't like French food," he said, teasing his fiancée. Wade chuckled.

"Aw now Lemon, how come you don't like French food? Don't you like frog legs?" Lemon rolled her eyes at the two men's childishness.

"Hey, don't be mean," Zoe said, giving him a meaningful look, "George, I do hope you know that's to-go," she started as George went to open the box, "as in thanks for stopping by, we'll see you tomorrow, I'll like some alone time with my boyfriend and I'm sure Lemon would like some alone time with you." George laughed.

"Duly noted."

* * *

><p>Zoe and Wade finished eating the food Zoe had picked up and were now laying in bed, just laying there. "George says we have a really good case. There's a good chance I'll be getting my cousin."<p>

"That's great, Wade." Wade snorted quietly.

"I don't want it to become weird between us. We've only been together for about two months now. I don't want to lose you."

"You're not. I'm not going anywhere. He's your cousin, your family. He's only a kid. Someone has to take care of him. If that person is you, then so be it. I'm not going anywhere." Wade grinned lopsidedly, leaning on his elbow and looking down at her.

"Good, good. I love you, Zoe Hart." Zoe blushed and looked down, "I know that's rather quick, but it's true. I've loved you since that moment when the heat wave broke."

"Even though I rejected you then?" she asked softly.

"Even though you rejected me, because right now, we're both here together." Zoe laughed quietly. "What?"

"You act all tough and like you don't care, but then you say things like that and you sound like one of the biggest romantics in all the world." She pecked his lips. "I'd tell you 'I love you too', but I'm still learning what love is." He chuckled.

"Aren't we all?" Wade captured Zoe's lips in a sweet passionate kiss. "Good night, Zoe."

"Night Wade."

* * *

><p>Okay, so Wade said the "L" word. Oooo. :D I needed this after the lack of reciprocation from Zoe to Wade's feelings. You could tell he just brought that girl to make him jealous. Poor guy has it bad. And AnnaBeth ditching and denying Zoe after her helping her in the first place. Poor Zoe. If you'd open your eyes, the best person in the would for you is right behind the bar at the Rammer Jammer. He gave you the free wine. Go to him! And Lavon's right, Wade needed to man up and admit that he like Zoe, that he loves Zoe.<p>

So speaking of love, when I had Wade realize it in here, (when she's standing in the rain during In Heat and Havoc), that's when I knew that Wade really did like her. When he was offering her to come inside, to me, it meant more like 'just come in, because I like you, but I'm not going to come out and say that yet'.

The scene with George and Wade, minus the flashbacks, I had written at the beginning of this and I knew I was going to put it in somewhere, just didn't know where and didn't have a name for the uncle. I had a name for Wade's mother and for Wade's cousin, but not his uncle. BTW, his name is Andreas. Res is a nickname for that. The English variation is Andrew. Annaliese came from a piece I wrote just before I wrote this, which I haven't posted, between Zoe and Earl, during when Zoe learns about Wade's mother. Originally it was going to be a different story, like the scene with George and Wade, but it's pretty clear to me that it fits right in there.

Zoe's grandma and her forbidden lover, inspired, of course, by Zoe's mom and Harvey. It was also inspired by the movie 'Letters to Juliet'. Amazing movie. I'm a sucker for forbidden love. Dutch naming tradition is the first daughter is named after the mother's mother. Zonne de Jong was Zoe's maternal grandmother. She would have been a teen during WWII, and therefore, could have had a child with Heinz, but I'm still working that one out so that Zoe's mother isn't like ridiculously old, unlike Zoe's bio dad that looked older than dirt. (No offense, Harvey!)

45 reviews before next chapter.


	8. BI: Heartache & Heartwarming

Again, no idea how I got this chapter out so quickly. It was bugging me during class today, so while the teacher got distracted rambling on and on and on about his new phone, I wrote most of this. Next chapter is going to take a lot longer, because I have no idea where this is going to go now.

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><p>"We're filling for 'in loco parentis' custody," George told one of his lawyer friends that Wade couldn't quite remember the name of. "We have proof that Johann Starr's emotional health is suffering from his mother, Jeana Starr. This study and deduction of his emotional health was done by a doctor at Bellevue, Dr. Miller. My client is capable of caring for his cousin. They are family and are close. The child's father, Andreas Starr is dead as of January 21, 2011. He wasn't even notified by his mother that his father had died, nor that he was in the hospital. The child was sent to England by his mother so she wouldn't, and I quote, 'Have to deal with him.' There, the child has felt abandoned, and frequently expresses this to my client when they speak on the phone and through email. I have copies of these emails, provided by my client and the child at both of their consent."<p>

Wade was glad he had a lawyer of a friend. He could hardly understand half of this mumbo-jumbo that George was rattlin' on about to his other lawyer friends, who would then ramble back some more lawyer talk. Lemon was in their hotel room, swearing that she had some sewing that she needed to catch up on. Quite frankly, Wade just thought she was probably sewing her wedding dress together and didn't want George to know.

Zoe told him she needed to deal with some of her 'family stuff'. Like the loving boyfriend he was, he nodded and wished her lucky. If her family was half as crazy as his, he could understand why she was sneaking around to do it. He wouldn't want to pull Zoe into his family problems either, if it weren't for the fact that she'd already been pulled into it.

"I think that went well," George mentioned to Wade on the way out of the law firm, "Don't you think?" Wade raised his eyebrow.

"I guess. You guys were just rattlin' off all sorts of stuff in that lawyer speak, I didn't know what was going on." His friend chuckled as the two men walked down the New York street. They were going to get lunch, then meet with another of George's lawyer friends. He didn't know where they'd go for this lunch, but he figured George had to know somewhere decent.

* * *

><p>"Hi Bubbe," Zoe said to the old lady who opened the door, "How are you today?" Zonne de Jong smiled at her granddaughter.<p>

"I'm well, especially now that I've seen my little gindele has returned from Alabama." Zoe blushed. She stepped aside, ushering the young doctor inside her home, "Come in, come in."

"If you could see Zeyde again, would you want to?" She asked her grandmother with those doe eyes. Her grandmother laughed softly, patting her granddaughter's hand.

"Of course I'd want to. I love him."

"More than…?" Zoe pressed her lips together, not sure of what to call her step-grandfather. It was the same way when she discovered that her tatte, her father, wasn't really her father.

"I loved him differently. Yes I loved him, but I loved your grandfather more." Zoe nodded.

"_But Mom's not that old," Zonne insisted to her grandmother on the way home._

"_We met again in the fifties for a short while. We went to Israel, to go to Jerusalem, and your grandfather had the same idea. He had helped many Jews escape the camp, even giving on his uniform the night before the Americans freed the camp, so that he could stay with me to make sure I was safe."_

"_Awww," Zonne giggled girlishly, "That's so sweet. It sounds like a book or a movie." Her grandmother laughed._

"Why go you ask me this, Gindele?" Zoe looked up to her grandmother.

"I'm trying to figure some things out." Zonne looked at her granddaughter.

"What sort of things?" she asked kindly.

"Wade told me he loves me, but after being with Zach for six years, I don't think I really know what love means." Zonne stood, walking across the room to an old, faded photograph.

"This is the only picture I have of my family before the war," she told Zoe, "The woman is the photo, my mother, was my father's third wife after the first two died. He loved the first with all his heart, he did not love the second, but the third, he loved her just as much as he loved the first. Now can you tell me why he loved the first and the third, but not the second?" Zoe shook her head. "They just weren't meant to be. They weren't compatible. You and Zach, you weren't compatible. Wade, from what I've heard from your mother and from you, and even from your father- oh don't give me that look. He's as much your father as my husband was your mother's. But from what I've heard about you and Wade, you better hold onto that boy. He sounds like a keeper."

Zoe nodded uncertainly. Zonne shook her head, putting the picture back on the mantle, stepping out of the parlor into the kitchen. Could the answer be so simple, that her and Wade were compatible where her and Zach weren't? Nothing was really that simple, was it?

She pulled out her wallet from her purse. Inside, she unwrapped the small package she kept inside, a pre-WWII locket. Inside, two aged photographs sat, one of her biological grandfather, one of her grandmother. It had been a trinket that her grandmother had given her before she started any serious competitions, working her way to the Olympics. The necklace was her biological grandfather's mother's. She needed to find him. She needed to know if he really did love her grandmother the way that her grandmother loved him.

She needed to know what it meant to be in love.

* * *

><p>"Well, we have a pretty solid case," George told his friend, "By this time next month, you will be back in Bluebell, your cousin in school down there."<p>

Wade sighed. "Is that Lemon on the ice skating rink?" he asked suddenly as they passed through Rockefeller center. His mama used to bring him here as a boy, but that had stopped once his grandmother disowned her. "Who's that guy she's with?"

George's head shot up, looking at the yellow-clad woman who was skating being held up by a man and another blonde woman. "I honestly have no idea. Let's go see." They moved over to watch from the side of the rink. When the trio circled by, Lemon pulled her arm from the man and waved frantically at George with the one arm.

"Look, George honey! I'm skating." She looked like a little kid, her hair a mess, her face flushed from the color, a large grin on her face, and her eyes a glow.

"That's nice, dear. Who are your friends?" She waved back to the man.

"That's Paul. He's a surgeon and a friend of Dr. Hart's. And this is his wife, Clara Mae. She's from Huntsville and lived next door to my aunt and uncle. We actually met before," the Belle said, motioning to the other blonde. George chuckled and Wade began whistling 'It's a Small World'.

"Hi, ya'll must be George and Wade," the woman Lemon introduced as Clara Mae said, holding out her hand to them. Both of the men shook her hand before she stepped back. "Now don't worry, Lemon and I are getting along wonderfully."

"So where is Zoe?" Wade asked the doctor and his wife. Both shrugged.

"We saw her a few days ago. I haven't been near any hospitals or doctors offices though; today's my day off." The bartender nodded. Where was his girlfriend?

"Wade!" a voice came, and he turned to see the tiny brunette coming towards them. She hugged him, giving him a kiss. "Sorry I didn't call. Lemon called me to tell me where she was. Neither of us wanted to both you two. We knew you had meetings all day." Wade nodded, meeting her lips half way as they kissed again.

* * *

><p>"Get ready to tell me you love me," a cheery voice sang over the phone.<p>

"You found something?" Zoe asked Viviana.

"Better," the gleeful girl crooned, "I found him! He lives right here in New York. Do you have a pen and paper and all? I can give you his number." Zoe told her to continue. "555-555-5555." The brunette doctor wrote that down, "And he goes by Henry now, so remember that." Zoe wrote 'Henry Krauser' on the top, "Wait, how do you know him anyways?"

"It's a long story," she told her friend, listening to the voices in the kitchen begin to die down as Wade and George's 'gather all the evidence we can' session seemed to be coming to an end. "Thank you, Vi. I owe you big for this."

* * *

><p>Zoe breathed in deeply again. She was nervous, beyond nervous. She was meeting with an ex-Nazi - slash - anti-Nazi - slash - grandfather. He didn't know that her grandmother had his child. She was married at the time. Even if he did know she had a child, he'd probably think it was her step-grandfather's.<p>

"Hi, Mr. Krauser?" Zoe asked the old man sitting on the bench. He looked up, studying her. She was obviously not what he had expected. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Zoe Hart."

"Yes, I realize that, Miss Hart," he said in a half-grouchy, half-curious tone, "Why am I here?"

"Because I made you curious," the doctor replied cockily, "Out of the blue, some girl you've never heard of calls you and asks to meet with you and you want to know why." The man who was her biological grandfather inhaled, obviously waiting for her to continue. "And it's Doctor Hart."

"Just because you're a medical student doesn't mean you're a doctor yet, Miss Hart." Zoe stared him down.

"I completed my residency three years ago at the New York Hospital. I was a surgeon there as well," she stated, "I'm a doctor. It's Doctor Hart." The man looked impressed at this.

"So then let's walk and you can tell me why you called me."

"It all goes back to a story my grandmother told me as a little girl. It's a story I come back to every time I want to know what love is." Henry Krauser motioned for her to continue. "My Bubbe was born in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam, in the later half of the nineteen twenties." Good, that's a good start, she thought, he knew that she was Jewish, or at least part. "She didn't come to America until the eighties, after my parents had moved here." He flinched. He obviously knew where this was going, or at least had an idea. He knew she was going to talk about the Holocaust. "It was always the same story. She got married to a man, even though she was in love with another."

"Why are you telling me this, Dr. Hart?" he asked exasperated, and Zoe pulled out the locket. He breathed in sharply at the sight of it.

"The woman on the right is my grandmother."

"May I?" he asked and she nodded. He took it into his hands, examining the locket, knowing that it was the very same one he had seen around his mother's neck every day, the same one he had given to Zonne Bakker over fifty years before. The lines engraved into the necklace were the same. He opened it with shaking hands. There was a picture of him on the left and picture on the right of Zonne Bakker. He had regretted letting her go the minute she had left, because he had loved her more than anything. Now, here was Zonne's granddaughter, Zoe, telling him that her grandmother had told her their story, that she used it as a basis of her idea of what love really is. And the girl before her, she was the spitting image of her grandmother. The same doe eyes, the same brown hair, even the same nose. It felt like it was killing him, crushing him, to see her now. There were some traces of whatever the other side of her family was, shown through her face shape for the most part. "Was it her dying wish for you to track me down or something?" he asked, still examining his mother's locket.

"My grandmother isn't dying. She's healthier than an ox, which is surprising, because she only eats foods that should have given her multiple heart attacks by now. In fact, she doesn't even know that I'm talking to you right now." This was also a shock to Henry. He heard the doctor take a sharp breath. "My mother was your daughter."

He looked up at her so quickly his neck could have broken. He didn't believe a word this girl was saying. How could it be possible? He thought back to the woman who had become his own wife, despite his love for Zonne, and their children. This girl, he could tell now, definitely did have certain things from him. The way her eyes flashed when she was angry, her passion, her nervousness and how she was wringing her hands in a way he remembered doing for a majority of his teenage years. "Zonne's alive?" he confirmed, and she nodded. "I want to see her." At this, Zoe hailed a cab.

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><p>It was certainly not every day that some girl who looks like an old love comes claiming she's really your granddaughter. In fact, he wasn't sure that ever really happened. It sounded like one of those sappy movies all those young people today liked to watch. It was too convenient; it had to be.<p>

Still, as the girl lifted her hand and knocked on the brownstone door, he couldn't help but believe her just a bit. Every fiber in his body was saying not to believe it, but his heart was telling him this was the truth. As Zonne, though aged from the last he'd seen her, looked just like he'd remembered. Zonne gasped and invited him inside. Zoe kissed her grandmother's cheek, disappearing, saying something about meeting a lemon to get lunch for two different men, George and Wade.

And then they were alone for the first time in years and they began to talk, to tell the other what they missed. Henry glanced back towards the door that Zoe had disappeared out of, now learning that she had indeed been telling him the truth.

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><p>So Zoe's grandmother eating only things to give her a heart attack is based off of my great-grandpa (eggs and grits and bacon every day. vegetables? what are those? what's fruit?) And yes, I do think that Henry would think Zoe's talking about a lemon and not Lemon.<p>

If you're happy and you know it review!  
>If you think Zoe should have kissed Wade on last night's HOD review!<br>If you think Wade should admit his feelings  
>Or Judson should date Gigi<br>Review!

50 reviews for next chapter!


	9. BI: The Confessions & the Complications

So I've been having a really depressing week. Mandie, my best friend, had to go back to England this morning because she just got a call that her mom is in the hospital with cancer. They didn't catch it quick enough and she kept putting off going to the doctor's so when she finally went, she was really far progressed, so she's probably not going to make it. Mandie's mom was like a second mom to me and Mandie didn't take the news well either. She is such a sweet lady. She really didn't deserve this.

Not going to go and sob story you guys. Just keep Mandie's family in your thoughts and prays. I know they'll all appreciate your support.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>"I always felt guilty as a kid. All the other kids all loved both of their parents. I only loved my dad because he loved me. She never did. I was an afterthought if she if even thought about me." Johann paused, his neatly cut blond-brown hair looking especially blond in the sunlight streaming through the window of the judge's chamber. "Last year I called her on my birthday and she yelled at me for interrupting her massage. She's never known when my birthday is. Half the time, I wonder if she even remembers I have one."<p>

"But Wade does love you? He knows when your birthday is?" the judge, Judge Carson, a friend of George's, asked Johann.

"Yeah. A few years he's flown up for it if he could get the time off work. When he couldn't, he'd send me a gift and video chat with me or we'd talk on the phone." He looked over to the bookshelf to his right, before looking back at Judge Carson with his hazel eyes, "I think he does love me. He always used to joke that I was his extra little brother, that he's change his bed out for bunk beds so that Dad would let me stay with him and Aunt Annaliese and Uncle Earl. Half the time, I'd wonder if he really was joking. There was day's he'd say it with a voice that was real serious. He'd start count up money, along with his brothers, Weston and Wyatt. They said that if they gave their parents the money to move my stuff into Wade's room, because Wyatt and Weston shared their room, maybe they'd be more willing to let me stay with them. They wanted my Dad to live in the guest room."

"What did they think about your mother?"

"Wade hated her. I never knew why, just that he didn't like her one bit and she hated him just as much, if not far more." Johann ran his fingers through his hair. "She and Grandmother both had very prejudice ideas, about Southern, Catholics, and Jews. Dad converted to Catholicism before he got sick because he felt it gave him more answers to life. My mother wanted to divorce him then."

"What stopped her?" Judge Carson asked the fifteen-year-old.

"She loved his money. She wasn't ready to lose that. I overheard her on the phone with one of her friends. She said if Dad hadn't signed a PreNup, she would have divorced him then and there."

"So you don't want to live with your mother?" Johann made a face.

"No. I really, really don't."

"Do you want to live with live with Wade, then?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Even though he lives in Alabama, a thousand miles away from here?"

"Even though he lives a thousand miles away. Living at the end of the world is better than living with that woman."

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><p>Zoe lifted up the photo on the shelf in Wade's uncle's home. Jeana was living with Wade's Nana for the time. The woman in the photo was definitely not Jeana. She was incredibly beautiful, with long blonde hair. As Zoe looked at her, she knew she had seen this woman before, but where? She set the pick back onto the shelf and took a picture of her with her phone.<p>

"That's Wade's mama," Lemon told her later as she and the Belle walked through Central Park. Lemon was studying the image on Zoe's phone, trying to figure out why Zoe would have known her. "She was born up here, but when she married Wade's daddy, she moved down to Bluebell. Only a handful of people actually know that though. It's the Kinsellas' best kept secret."

Zoe stared at Lemon. "Why is that?"

"Well, you see, Wade's Grandpa owned a magazine that's nationally syndicated. When Wade's mama live up here, she was on the board of directors and her brother took the company over when their father died. I only know this because Mrs. Kinsella used to take Magnolia and I shopping once my mama left."

"Was she nice?" the doctor asked. She wanted to know more about Wade's family.

"Very nice. She was such a sweetheart." Zoe nodded, taking her phone back from Lemon as it rang.

"Hello?" Zoe was quiet for a while. "We'll be right there." Zoe stuck her phone in her purse. "Come on," she told Lemon.

"What's going on?"

"They're recessing for lunch and Wade wants us to be there after lunch."

Zoe hailed a taxi and climbed inside, Lemon following her. Cars were rushing everywhere. One man lost control of his car ahead of them, hitting a patch of ice. The taxi driver stopped at the red light as the man ahead of them ran into the intersection, hitting into another car, but the car behind their taxi didn't stop, pushing their car into the pile up. There was the sound of honking, the sound of metal and glass crunching all around them. She screamed, but the sounds around her drowned out her screams. Zoe felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Everything was blurred, other than the red that was overtaking her left eye as they were thrown around, then black.

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><p>"Where are they?" Wade muttered to George as he looked at his friend. George shook his head, pressing the end call button again.<p>

"Lemon's not answering. That's really not like her to not answer her phone. Have you tried Zoe?" Wade nodded.

"Voicemail." Wade's phone rang and he picked up immediately, not checking to see who was calling and he paled as he heard the voice on the other end. "Thank you for let me know, Liam," he said, hanging up, "That was Zoe's brother. Zoe and Lemon were in an accident. They're doing some tests on Lemon. Zoe's in surgery," he told George, who immediately paled at the thought of his fiancé in an accident. "We need to go."

"Go where?" Michael, George's lawyer friend, asked them.

"My fiancé and Wade's girlfriend were just in a really bad accident." Michael frowned.

"Go. I'll ask to reschedule this." Wade paused.

"What about Johann?"

"My son used to go to school with him before his mother put him into that English school. He's more than welcome to stay with my family for the night." Wade nodded, shaking his hand as George gathered up their stuff.

"Thank you."

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><p>Beep… beep… beep… beep… beep…<p>

"Uggh!" Zoe groaned. She knew that sound all too well. She lifted her hand, seeing the tubes running into her hand. With her other hand, she slowly lifted to touch her forehead. She could feel where she had had stitches. Under a blanket, she could see her right leg in a cast again. The sight was all too familiar.

"Hello, Ms. Hart. I'm Dr. Ashton."

"I already know," Zoe told him, "Broken leg, minor concussion, and minor anemia. I get that." The doctor's face darkened.

"Look, Ms. Hart-"

"Go get Dr. Samuels or my dad," she told the young doctor. He looked flustered and went to speak.

"Too late, Zoe," Paul said, walking in, "You can go, Dr. Ashton. I can handle Dr. Hart." The young doctor gave Paul the folder, then stormed from the room. Paul pulled up a chair next to Zoe. "I heard your diagnosis of yourself. You're partially correct."

Zoe cocked her head and her friend, looking at him confused. "What did I get wrong?"

"You had a miscarriage." She stared at him blankly.

"But that's not possible. I wasn't pregnant," she told him.

"About five weeks."

"But I wasn't pregnant," Zoe insisted. Paul squeezed Zoe's hand and tears became to come. She moved one hand onto her flat stomach as a sob escaped her mouth. She felt like someone had torn out her heart. She felt like she was missing someone she who she hadn't even known the existence of, sort of the way she felt when she learned Harvey was her real father, only more devastated. She could learn things about Harvey through the people who knew him and whatever she could find on him. She'd never get to know her baby ever. She'd never get to hold them, or tuck them in. She found herself longing for the child she'd never get to meet.

"I'm really sorry." Her boyfriend appeared in the doorway of the hospital room and she looked up at him, her eyes filled with unshed tears and her cheeks streaked with the shed ones. It was a truly heartbreaking scene for Wade. Paul stood. "Let's talk outside," he told Wade. The bartender nodded, looking at his girlfriend, and then following the doctor outside.

"Is she going to be okay?" Wade asked worriedly.

"She's got a broken leg and a very minor concussion that's mostly gone. She has minor anemia." Wade nodded, turning back to go into Zoe's room, but Paul reached out and stopped him. "She lost her baby."

Wade froze, and then blinked. "Baby? Zoe wasn't pregnant." Paul nodded.

"Zoe didn't know either." Paul sighed. "She was five weeks pregnant." Wade inhaled deeply, closing his eyes as he leaned against the wall. Suddenly, her tears as he had first entered the room made sense. When he opened my eyes, there was a dark hair girl and a blonde, Roxana and Gigi, who stood frozen.

"Zoe was pregnant?" Roxana asked, her eyes large with sadness. When Wade nodded, she clasped a hand over her mouth. Gigi pushed past him, entering into the room. Wade followed behind her as Gigi hugged her friend. Zoe's eyes met his, silently begging him not to leave her, to stay, to come there. He complied, moving to sit next to her on the small hospital bed, lifting his tiny girlfriend into his lap, mindful of her leg. As she clung to him, Gigi stood and left the room with a feel better, dragging Roxana in tow. His shirt was soaked with Zoe's tears over the loss of someone they didn't know that would always be a part of their life.

Wade hugged Zoe to him. He was going to be a dad. He was going to have a family, him, Zoe, their child, and his cousin. Or they were, before that awful accident had taken their child away from them. He had found out only a few minutes ago, and he could already feel the pain of the son or daughter he'd never know. He could only imagine how heartbroken Zoe must feel. He looked up as someone knocked on the door. He nodded silently to Dr. Hart, who let himself in.

"Oh, Ketzile," he said softly, embracing his daughter into his arms, "I'm so sorry," he told her, rocking her gently as Wade stood and watched. "I called your mother when I found out. She's on her way." Zoe sniffled and nodded. "Get some rest," Dr. Hart ordered her tenderly before turning to Wade. "Take care of her. I'm going to go get her charts and file from Dr. Ashton."

"Paul," Zoe finally chocked out as her father went to leave, "Paul has them. He took them from that Ashton kid." Dr. Hart nodded.

"I'll go get them from him then." He turned back to his daughter, placing a kiss on her forehead. "Get some rest, Ketzile." Zoe nodded, laying into Wade, curling her head onto his chest. She was going to be a mom. She hadn't even know...

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><p>So depressing news = depressing chapter. It started out alright, but then she told me what happened and it was amazing she even got a flight out on such short notice. But my chapter goes kind of depressing. Don't hate me! I didn't mean to take that much out on Zoe! I promise.<p>

Hopefully tomorrow's episode will lighten my mood up a little.

Remember to review. 55 reviews to next chapter. 60 if you want it up by tomorrow or Tuesday at latest or if you want to cheer me up. Little reminder, keep Mandie & her mom & her family in your thoughts, please.


	10. BI: The Silent & the Suffering

So this chapter was incredibly hard to write. It was hard trying to imagine the pain Zoe is going through at this point and the strain it's going to put on her and Wade's relationship. I think I did alright though.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>Zoe had ordered herself to bed rest after finding her crutches only hurt her underarms. Lemon had come out relatively unscathed compared to Zoe. She only had a dislocated shoulder and some cuts and scratches. She was now sitting in Zoe's bedroom in her apartment above Nacht, sewing what appeared to be her wedding dress, only in a mini version of it. Zoe rolled her eyes. Only Lemon would bring along her Save the Date cards to hand calligraphy each and every one of them. Only Lemon would go and sit in front of her flaunting that she was going to have a wedding, flaunting that stupid mini wedding dress that looked like a tiny christening dress. Finally she held it up. It was about the size for a baby.<p>

"What do you think?" Lemon asked her.

"It's awful!" Zoe yelled at her, pulling her crutches up from off the floor and going off to the living room, away from the dress. Lemon looked down at the dress. She didn't understand what Zoe didn't like about it. It was just a doll's dress, after all.

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><p>Wade looked up at the judge nervously. "I have spoken to the child at great length. I have heard from both sides. That is why I am ruling that Johann Starr lives with his cousin, Wade Kinsella." He banged his gavel down. "Case dismissed."<p>

Wade couldn't help the grin that overtook his face for the first time in days, for the first time since that day. He turned to George, seeing him smile like a fool too. They had won. Maybe Zoe would feel better once they got back to Bluebell. He needed to call Lavon, ask him to clear out the little office room in the gatehouse that he had and put a bed in. Johann would need a place to stay once they got to Bluebell.

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><p>When Wade walked in Zoe's apartment, he found her on the bed, crying into the pillow. Gently, he sat down on the bed, pulling his girlfriend into his arms. She clutched at his shirt, holding onto him. He could do nothing but hold her and stroke her hair.<p>

Zoe found it especially hard to deal with her miscarriage. He did too, but it seemed to be constantly ripping at Zoe. He wanted to make her smile again. Pulling out from where she was laying on top of him, he went over to the closet, grabbing a fancy dress from it and giving it to Zoe. "Get dressed. I'm taking you out." Zoe looked stunned at his command, but nodded all the same.

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><p>He knew it was awkward for the tiny brunette to sit in the car with her leg in a cast. He also knew she was going stir crazy in that apartment. More than that, he knew Zoe. He knew she was blaming herself for her miscarriage because she was a doctor and she felt like she should have known better, like she had known she was pregnant. Wade knew Zoe didn't understand why he didn't blame her for losing the child they hadn't known about. From the look on Zoe's face, he also knew she was just waiting for him to leave her because he could see she was scared that he wouldn't want her anymore. That couldn't have been farther from the truth. He loved her with all his heart. There's no way she could have known.<p>

The cab stopped in front of Zoe's parent's building. Wade slid out, helping Zoe up and gain her balance with her crutches. He paid the driver, then walked with her to the door, where the doorman smiled at Zoe and greeted her as "Miss Zoe," and she gave him a small nervous smile in return. Wade saw it as progress.

"So how come you're bringing me to my parents?" she asked Wade as they were in the elevator going up.

"You haven't seen them since before the accident," he said softly. Zoe nodded, looking down, as if ashamed.

"How come you aren't mad at me?" Wade stepped in front of her, mindful of her leg. He pulled her face up to look at him.

"You didn't know." He kissed her forehead, "You had no reason to think that you were pregnant," her eyelids, "It wasn't your fault that the guy behind you hit into you," her nose, "I was the reason you were coming that way in the first place," her check, "I'm just glad you're okay." His lips hovered above hers, just enough so they could feel the heat from each other's skin, not yet touching. Then, Zoe lifted one arm, ignoring her crutch drop, as she pulled Wade's face to hers. He smiled into the kiss as he felt her smile for the first time in over a week. Still careful of her leg, her lifted her into his arms, Zoe grabbing onto him for dear lift as he left the elevator, her crutches in it. Walking only a few feet, he tapped the door with his foot, the butler opening the door.

"Hi Albert," Zoe said sheepishly, "Can you grab my crutches from the elevator please?" The butler just smiled and bowed his head.

"Hi Mom, Hi Tatte," she said greeting her parents who were just inside the door as she clung to Wade's neck, before turning accusingly to him. "You set this all up, didn't you?"

It was her mother that answered, patting her daughter on the shoulder. "He was worried about you, we all were."

Zoe looked between her boyfriend and her parents. The three were about as opposite as they come. Her mom was never really around when she needed her. She threw parties and was spontaneous, but only when it benefitted her and her publicist image. Her father was careful, every movement planned, thought out. Wade was sort of a simple guy. He drank beer and lounged around playing his guitar and he worked as a bartender in a tiny town in Alabama that she still wasn't convinced was actually on the map. If you had told her this a few months ago, she would have laughed in your face and recommended you a good brain specialist. But somehow, as Wade held her in his strong, capable arms, she knew that it was always meant to end up this way. Her bubbe was always supposed to have an affair with the very man who was supposed to lead her to her death, her mother was always supposed to meet Harley, and she was always going to wind up in Bluebell at some point or another and meet Wade.

And as her not-so Prince Charming carried her over to the couch and laid her down as gently as possible onto it, she knew she could never be jealous of Cinderella or any of those other fairytale princes ever again. They'd never compare to the man before her.

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><p>Zoe was curled up in her bed, well, as curled up as she could be with the stupid cast on her leg. For the first time in a while, she was in Wade's arms, studying his face. He was asleep, but her mind hadn't quite gotten the message yet. Gingerly, she lifted her fingertips to his face, tracing his cheekbones, his nose, his eyes with gentle touches that seemed to be from a butterfly. Oh so carefully, taking heed not to wake him up, she whispered, "I think I might love you," she told his sleeping self. She pressed her lips to his, applying no more than a light bit of pressure before she pulled back, laying her head into the crook of his neck. "Actually," she said in that same quiet tone, "I know I love you." She smiled, closing her eyes as she snuggled in close to him. Her mind finally at rest, she drifted into a peaceful abyss of sleep.<p>

Wade's eyelids fluttered as a cocky grin came to his face.

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><p>Next up: Valentine's day &amp; the Sweetie Pie dance. I figured that since it was on the show, hey, why not. There will be no Judson in this however. You all know how I feel about Zoe &amp; Judson having a relationship on the show and Wade acting like a complete idiot at the end of that episode (all while looking totally gorgeous). I can't believe I just said totally. My friend roped me into acting in this project they're doing (I hate being on camera! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it!) and I had to be all stereotypical blonde (which is weird because one: I'm not blonde, and two: most of the blonde's I know are really smart. I knew these blond twins and they were like super geniuses!) Now, it's sort of sticking which is tot- COMPLETELY driving me crazy!<p>

I think I'm just going to stick to a classic here. So to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it".

If you're happy and you know it, review.  
>If you're happy and you know it, review.<br>If you're happy and you know it  
>And you really want to show it.<br>If your happy and you know it, review.

65 reviews to next chapter.


	11. Author Note Please don't hate me!

Another boring author's note:

Is anyone still reading this? I'm getting such minimal responses on this story that I'm not sure if anyone is still reading it. I'm not a mind reader! I need you guys reviews to know if you like it or hate or or whatever with this story. I don't want to continue writing that's just wasting my time and my hard drive's space for next to no body to read.

To the whole 2 people that reviewed chapter 10, thank you! I really appreciate it.

To anyone else that is still reading but not reviewing, let me know you're still reading, because otherwise, I'm just going to stop writing this. I'm going through a really hard time right now as it is with my oldest best friend's mom in the hospital and one of my other best friends now has a blood disease that we have to be really careful about, because apparently she's always had it and no one, including her, realized it, so it's really depressing to log in and see only two people telling you that they like this and are reading something you worked so hard on and poured your soul into.

I'm sorry if that sounds too snippy.

Thank you,

Celeste


	12. BI: The Valentines & the Victories

Due to the overwhelming response of people, I decided to forge ahead with this story. Thank you everyone.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, Zoe and Wade would be together on the show.

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><p>"Zoe! You're home! You have, like, no idea how happy I am. So how are you? How's your leg? Does it hurt?"<p>

"Rose!" Wade and Zoe both snapped as Wade carried her into his house, setting her on his couch. She blushed down sheepishly.

"Sorry."

"It's okay," Zoe said more kindly, settling in. "Can you grab my purse from the car please?" she asked the girl. Rose nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course." She walked out of the gatehouse, out to Lavon's Navigator where a boy stood digging through the trunk. "Hey!" she yelled, "That's not yours!"

"Yes it is!" he yelled back playfully with a thick accent. She could hear the New York part in his voice, but there was something else there too. He stood up straight. He was handsome, blond hair and hazel eyes and a leather jacket. Rose blushed. "I'm Wade's cousin, Jack. I'm living with him now," he told her, carrying his suitcase.

"I'm Rose." Jack grinned, bending at the waist and placing a butterfly-like kiss to the back of her hand.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, lovely Rose." The fourteen-year-old was sure she was as red as Zoe's shirt that she was wearing. Zoe!

"I have to get Zoe's purse," she blurted out.

"Of course. It's here in the back." He opened the back door of the Navigator, handing Rose a large, stylish purse. He headed towards the gatehouse, but turned back to her as he climbed up onto the porch, "You coming, girl?"

Rose scrambled after him. She handed Zoe her purse and the doctor thanked her.

"So I start school here tomorrow," Jack said to Rose as they sat on the porch outside his cousin's house, after deciding to give his cousin and his girlfriend some time. It stunk that tomorrow was a Thursday that he started school, but he supposed if she was here, it would be alright. "Will you be my guide?" Rose nodded, trying to play it cool.

"Sure, just stick with me and I'll make sure you won't get lost." Jack grinned.

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><p>Jack thought he might like Bluebell High School. Rose told him to meet her outside the front office at eight a.m. sharp. He thought it would be great, until he saw her. She was blond and bounced up to him, smiling brightly.<p>

"Hi. I'm Magnolia Breeland. I'm on the Welcoming Committee, and I've been assigned to should you around the school. Now-"

"I'm sorry, I'm not interested," Jack said, pulling out his phone as he got a call. He pressed accept. "No mate, I'm in America. Yes, the place that broke away from you guys like two hundred years ago," he said into the phone. Magnolia's grin faded from her face. He ignored her! He was gorgeous and he ignored her. She was Magnolia Breeland. Men didn't ignore her!

"Jack, there you are!" Rose called from behind her and the boy turned, "I knew you'd get lost." She had a grin on her face. "The office is that way."

"Of course it is," he said to her, not noticing Magnolia grinning. She now had a name. "Thank you kindly, lovely." He gave Rose a wink, but she played it cool. Magnolia couldn't believe it. The hot guy with a cute accent, that she couldn't quite tell where it was from, was flirting with Rose Hattenbarger. She wasn't even that pretty!

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><p>Jack took a seat besides Rose in his last class of the day. History was an elective class in Bluebell, he was surprised to discover. In his school in England, the class had been mandatory. Perhaps it was because his school was a boarding school. Perhaps not.<p>

He hated that that Magnolia girl had followed him around all day. She was bugging him. _Get the hint, girl!_ he thought.

The teachers had all stumbled over his name. His father had hyphenated his last name, not unlike the way Aunt Annaliese had Friedrich as her middle name. The teachers all looked thankful when he told them to just call him Jack instead of Johann Friedrich Starr.

Rose turned to him, dropping her voice to a whisper, "Survive the day?" Jack shrugged at her, giving her a so-so motion.

Rose was a pretty girl. There was no if, and, or buts for Jack about it. Her glasses gave her an appearance of being older than she was. Her hair wasn't too light or too dark. She had the whole girl next door look going on. And Jack, of all people, could appreciate a beautiful woman.

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><p>"The Sweetie Pie dance is tomorrow," Wade said, sitting down on the coffee table across from the couch, "So Zoe Hart, will you be my sweetie pie?" Zoe laughed at his cheesiness.<p>

"Of course I will." She frowned, pretending to think, "I'm not sure if my boyfriend will be mad though." Wade chuckled, scooping her into his arms and carrying her into his bedroom, kicking the door shut with his foot.

"I love you, Zoe Hart," he murmured as he placed kisses up and down the column of her throat once he placed her onto his bed.

"I love you too, Wade." He pulled back. He hadn't seen her smile thing much since the accident over two weeks ago. For two whole weeks, he had lived with his beautiful girlfriend pouting, crying, and angry, but never smiling. With a sudden impish grin, he dove at her, still careful of her leg, and kissed her deeply.

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><p>Zoe laid sated on Wade's bed. Her eyes were drooping as he pulled his shirt on, covering her with his sheet, and pressing a kiss to her forehead. He wished he didn't have to leave her, but he needed to get back to work. Despite the fact that he almost owned the place, he wasn't the boss. Not yet anyways. Lunch just didn't last that long.<p>

"I'll see you when I get home, Zoe," he whispered to her. She nodded, pulling the blanket tighter around her. "I love you."

"Love you too," she muttered, almost already given into sleep. He smiled one last time before he left.

* * *

><p>"Stupid boy. He's so uggh," Wade heard from someone sitting at the bar. He turned around to see a girl with an oversized hat and some sunglasses. "Bartender," she ordered, "Something strong."<p>

"The strongest thing you havin' here, Magnolia, is some water. Now, do you want me to call your daddy or your sister?" Magnolia scolded at him.

"It's just there's this new boy, Jack, and he's so gorgeous. Like incredibly hot." Wade stared at her blankly.

"Do I look like I care about high school drama? Girl, I went through high school already with your sister. I've had enough of it to last me lifetimes." He turned back to his other customers, trying to tune out her ramblings.

"It's just... what does Rose have that I don't?" she shot at him. He bit back a reply of 'Manners and humility.'

"Why don't you ask him?" Wade suggested.

"I've tried," she complained, "He won't give me the time of day."

"I though you were with some Freddie Gene or somethin'?" Wade asked her.

"Frederick Dean. And we broke up. You know why?" No, he didn't, not that he cared. "Because he thought Rose was sooooo awesome with her little comic books and her glasses and- hey! Do you think if I get glasses he'll like me?"

"Frederick Dean?" Wade shrugged, "Sure."

"No, no, no!" she waved her hands around, looking like a crazy person. "Not him, Jack." Wade blinked. Why was she talking about his cousin and why was she buying him glasses? Unfortunately, he didn't get to find out because Ol' Man Tate called him back into the office.

"Sit on down, son." Wade obeyed and the man closed the door behind him. "Now I've been talkin' to the wife for quite some time now, and we've come to the decision that it's time I retire. I want to know who you think I should sell this place to." Wade stiffened.

"You should sell it to whomever you want to sell it to. The people of this town though are used to everything going a certain way here and if that's gonna change once whomever you sell it to takes over, then there's gonna be a lot of mighty fine people out of a job, sir." Mr. Tate smiled, sitting down behind his desk.

"A very good answer, Wade." He looked the younger man in the eyes, "I want you to buy this place and manage it."

"Really?" The older man nodded.

"You've worked here since you were sixteen, and you started helping me out around here when you were eleven. With the exception of Victor," Victor was the chef, an old time cook at the Rammer Jammer, "you've been here the longest. There's no one I'd trust more with this place." Wade beamed.

"Thank you, sir." He stood, shaking the old man's hand.

"Then I'll give George Tucker a call and have him draw up the papers. You can go on back to work now." Wade left the office, smiling and whistling. Today was a pretty good day.

* * *

><p>"So I promised him that sure, I would go for a walk with him. But my parents think I'm here, so they can't know. Can I borrow a top or something? I'm so nervous!" Rose exclaimed at a million miles an hour to Zoe who was applying mascara to her lashes.<p>

"Rose! Calm down. Sure you can borrow a top. I'm not going to tell your parents as long as nothing happens." Rose bobbed her head to the doctor.

"Of course nothing's gonna happen." Her phone dinged and she pulled it out, reading a text. "How 'bout if we watch a movie instead? Is it alright that we're watching it over at Wade's place?"

"What movie?" Zoe asked curiously.

"Titanic." Rose's voice took on a dreamy-like quality. "He's just so funny. He was like we should watch it. It has us starring in it."

"He wrote this in a text?" she asked the girl incredulously. Zoe watched her nodded in the mirror, pulling out a top and holding it in front of her.

"What do you think?"

"Cute." The tiny doctor picked up her crutches, using them to cross the room to her closet, pulling out her dress for the night and a flat since she couldn't walk very well in heels with her broken leg. It was the first time the town would have seen her since the accident, but she had no doubt in her mind that they already knew. What they knew was questionable though. Wade told her that people had asked her about her leg. He hadn't heard any murmurs of Zoe's miscarriage and Lemon, George, and Jack were sworn to secrecy by Zoe. She didn't want pity from the whole town. She moved into the bathroom. "You like Jack, huh?"

"He's nice to me. Magnolia is so jealous," she informed Zoe, plopping down onto the bed, "She just can't believe that he's not interested in her. She's going tonight with Frederick Dean. They broke up weeks ago, but she didn't want to not go, so they're back together again. How messed up is that? She's just using him."

"That's awful, Rose," Zoe called from inside the bathroom as she changed. Wade knocked on the bedroom door, seeing Rose on the bed.

"Why don't you go on over to my place," he told her, "Jack's poppin' some popcorn."

"Bye Zoe! By Wade!" she called as she ran out. Wade opened up the bathroom door. He stopped at he watched her move her hair into place. She looked beautiful, exquisite.

"Damn girl! You're lookin' good!" Zoe flushed as her boyfriend moved across the bathroom floor and brought her lips up to his. When he pulled back, she let out a sound that almost sounded like a whine and looked up at him confused. "So... you are now looking at the new owner of the Rammer Jammer."

"Wade, that's great!" she kissed him again, throwing her arms around his neck with little regard for her crutches that fell to the floor with at clatter. He picked them up, handing them back to her before they walked back into her bedroom. Off the bed, he opened up a box with a corsage in it. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

* * *

><p>The town was beautifully decorated for Valentine's Day. It had been months since she last second guessed her moving to Bluebell. As she rocked back and forth slowly in her boyfriend's arms, she knew she had made the right decision in coming here. The night had been perfect.<p>

"Alright now, this is the last song of the evening," the DJ they had hired for the night told them, "So everyone grab your sweetie pie and move on out to the dance floor."

Wade glazed down happily at the little doctor in his arms. She looked content and actually a little on the tired side. Her eyes were closed and she was resting her head on his chest, looking absolutely precious. "Zoe," he whispered, nudging her lightly as the song ended, "Are you ready to go?" she nodded, taking back her crutches from him and heading to his car.

As they arrived back on the plantation, he opened her door for her and they both walked into his house. Rose was fast asleep on Jack's shoulder, the DVD ending long before. Wade pulled a blanket down, covering his cousin. Rose was already wrapped in a blanket. Zoe was smiling, looking at the two of them.

"They're so cute," she whispered. Wade smirked and nodded in agreement. "Thank you for a wonderful evening," she told him as they reached his room. Wade smiled back at her, handing her one of his t-shirts and pulling her into his arms.

"Now what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't give my girlfriend a great evening?" Zoe grinned. She always thought that Wade would have been trying to get out of a relationship, shying from commitment, but once they began their relationship, he was very happy being commitment to someone. She was just glad that person was him. "I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered as she climbed in his bed. He joined her, pulling her into his arms.

"Night Zoe.

* * *

><p>AN: Okay, it's official. I hate Valentine's Day... or maybe not. Maybe I just hate Frederick Dean. Men who have girlfriend should tell you they have girlfriends. They should not be like Frederick Dean wanting both. You know why? Because the Frederick Deans of the world always seem to pick the Magnolia Breelands of the world instead of recognizing how wonderful the Roses of the world are or can be. The Roses of the world need a little love too. They can't just sit around and wait for him to get his head out of the clouds and think he can propose to Magnolia Breeland and still flirt with Rose. He can't have it both ways! So I have little sympathy for Frederick Dean today and just as much for Magnolia.

In other words, the guy that has been flirting with me for over a month, who asked me out yesterday, now proposed... right in front of me... to his blonde hair, brown eye girlfriend who makes Lemon look as sweet as apple pie, whom he couldn't both to mention having before, that no one in the world could both mentioning before. I need to find myself a nice guy. Where have all of them gone? Why is it that I seem to attract all the jerks? Do I have some massive sign that says "Sucker, please go and make a fool of me!" It makes me glad I told him that "I'd think about it." Who proposes to their girlfriend in the middle of a college campus anyways?

So basically, this is my take out frustrations on "Frederick Dean" zone for the moment. I'm swearing off relationships. Valentine's Day is just one of those holidays that makes you miserable. This was sort of rant therapy. I thank you all for being wonderful listeners- er, readers. I feel better already.

So in lighter new, Mandie's mom got released from the hospital, so she's coming back here and her parents are going to travel the world so she can die happy. Doctors told her 6 months- 1 yr. Not sure how this is happier news, but it's not ranting.

Also, my roomie was released from the hospital. She's feeling much better.

Lastly, I wasn't originally going to stick Johann, who goes by Jack as I'm sure I've mentioned somewhere in previous chapters, with Rose. He was going to be Magnolia's love interest and let Rose have Frederick Dean and then I realized this morning as I watched that two-faced heartbreaking jerk, that I hate Frederick Dean. Rose is such a nice girl. She should not put up with him leading her on. So Rose is happy, Jack is happy, and yes, I made them watch Titanic. I didn't realize I had even don't that until after I started this chapter.

The lesson everyone: sometimes good can come out of a really bad situation, like this chapter. Or how I can watch In Heat and In Havoc over and over and stare at Wade's abs without anyone interrupting me (may I marry him? He's just too cute.). Or the satisfaction I'll have when they are fighting and having an unhappy marriage because their both players and I can still go out with a different guy every night of the week and not answer to anyone about it. Not that I would go out with a different guy every night of the week, I'm not that kind of girl. Now "Magnolia" on the other hand.

So this is Rose and me letting go of our Frederick Deans! To moving onto better and brighter men! A very happy Valentine's Day to all!

Don't forget to review! Celeste = not a mind reader. 80 reviews to the next chapter. :)


	13. BI: Memories & Moments

So after Valentine's Day, everything seemed to get a whole lot better. Go figure. Yet another fluffy chapter. No Jack in it (sorry. The kid's at school.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>Zoe never realized how much she missed Bluebell while she was in New York. Wade made her let Brick take a look at her leg when it came time for the cast to come off, and, reluctantly, she agreed. So that's why she was sitting there on the examining table in Brick's office, waiting for him too take the cast off. She knew her leg was healed. She had examined it at her house besides the lake before she came. That's when Lemon walked in.<p>

"Do you know where my daddy is?" Zoe pointed into the office that was separated from the examining room by a set of sliding glass doors.

"What is it?" She asked the blonde.

"I'm just going to wait," she said quietly, sitting down. Zoe blinked. She had never known Lemon to be quiet or patient.

"Lemon?" Brick asked as he stepped out. "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the day on a Saturday. I thought you and George were going to pick out meal settings or something for the wedding."

"George and I eloped!" she blurted out. Her dad dropped the stuff that was in his hands and Zoe's mouth dropped. "It was getting too stressful and everything was getting so crazy with picking out the bridesmaid's dresses and the flowers and so we went this morning and eloped. So we're going to take a short vacation for a few days so... um... I-"

"Congrats," Zoe interrupted her stuttering, smiling at her.

"Thank you." The tiny doctor elbowed Brick to get him out of his stupor.

"Er- um... uh..." Zoe looked sympathetically at Brick, studying him for a moment. She reached over to the table beside her, grabbing a small flashlight and checking both his eyes.

"Pupil response in normal. He's just in a bit of shock. He'll get over it." Lemon nodded. She hugged her dad, giving him a kiss on the cheek and said goodbye. She waved goodbye to Zoe and walked out of the practice. "You okay there, Brick?"

"My little girl got married without me," he muttered in disbelief.

"If it makes you feel better, you still have Magnolia." The man's expression darkened.

"She better not be gettin' married for a long, long time," he grumbled. Zoe laughed quietly, allowing him to remove her cast from her leg.

* * *

><p>Zoe was over at Wade's house, watching his TV since he had the better television and Lavon was in some all day meetings. The rain was drizzling lightly. Rose was in school and so was Jack. Wade was at work, so she didn't have any company. Zoe stood up, holding herself silent as she heard a knocking, then a moan before a loud crash. She rushed outside as quickly as she could on her still healing leg to where the noise came from.<p>

"Earl!" Zoe called to the man who was attempting to bury himself with the tackle boxes on Wade's porch. He had a flask in hand and was soaked. "Earl, are you okay? Do you know who I am?"

"Pretty lady." Zoe shrugged. He was close enough.

"You're freezing!" she cried as she helped him up. "You need to get inside."

"I'm not drunk," Earl told her, contradicting what Zoe thought. He exhaled heavily and Zoe shook her head. He was definitely drunk.

"Well it doesn't matter. You'll get sick standing out here. It's unnaturally cold for Alabama and you're soaked."

"Don't need people telling me what to do," he muttered, "You worse than Annaliese." The normalcy of the name made her think. Who was Annaliese? She had never heard the name mentioned before, at least not in Alabama. There had been an Annaliese at medical school, a real sweet girl, who had to drop out when her mom got really sick. "Where is she anyways? She said she was comin' straight home!" Earl stumbled and Zoe got a whiff of the alcohol on his breath. Earl definitely was drunk. "Anna Louise?"

"Okay, you definitely need to get inside. Come on," Zoe ushered him into Wade's house. He pulled out a bottle that she could hear was near empty, but she took the bottle from him and he cried out. "I'm going to go refill it for you."

"Okay," he said, "And get Annaliese to come inside too. She's gonna get sick. I don't need her gettin' sick." Zoe nodded, taking the bottle.

She dumped its contents into the sink, giving the bottle a good rinse before filling it with room temperature water. She knew the best thing for the hangover he would surely have when he woke up. She couldn't sing Earl down from any roofs, especially not after breaking her leg. When she came out, Earl was passed out on the couch that she had been occupying minutes before.

It was a few hours later when Wade walked it. His eyes looked to his father, passed out drunk on the couch and his girlfriend who was sitting in the chair besides the couch, watching the TV quietly. "Jack's staying over with one of this kids from school." Zoe nodded and he went to wake up his father. She shook her head.

"Let him sleep it off," she told him. Wade sighed, but let her have her way. She took his hand, giving him a tug towards his bedroom. She looked like she was about to drop on her feet, so he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder.

"Good Lord, Zoe. You're so light! How does the wind not blow you away?" She rolled her eyes as he tossed her gently on the bed.

"Ha ha." Wade got ready for bed and when he came back, he found Zoe, dressed in only his t-shirt. He really appreciated how long her legs were for someone so short. A wave of possessiveness took over at seeing her there. He pulled back the covers and lay down in the bed, patting the space beside him for her to crawl beneath the sheets and join him. She did, curling up and laying on his chest. Her dark hair was sprayed out across his arm and the pillow. "Night," she muttered.

"Night."

* * *

><p>A door opening the next morning woke him. He pulled himself out from under Zoe's tiny body, finding that she was practically laying completely on top of him. He ran into the living room, finding his father walking out across the lawn. Wade chased after him, but his father stopped at the lake, looking over it. "I met your mama one summer when she was in a boat with her brothers and I was swimming out in that lake out on the edge of town." Wade knew the lake that he was talking about. It was the lake on their family's piece of property out on the edge of Bluebell. "Take care of the little lady in there."<p>

"I will," Wade promised, "I love her." Earl nodded.

"She dumped out my liquor," he complained, holding up the flask filled with water.

"That's Doc for ya."

"You hide yours," his father stated.

"I have Jack living with me now. Uncle Res died and his mother didn't care about him." Earl looked down at the ground regretfully.

"I messed up with you boys. When your mama died, I shouldn't have abandoned you like that."

Wade shook his head. "You loved her. Weston and Wyatt didn't understand. Still, they turned out alright. Weston's up in Montgomery and Wyatt's stationed overseas." Weston was a police detective. Getting that job in Montgomery was a great accomplishment for him. Wyatt had enlisted the minute he had graduated high school. Now it was just him and Earl left in Bluebell, but now, Jack was here too. For a while though, he was sure that he'd be the only one that would be left in Bluebell, doomed to a life of drinking cheep beer, playing his guitar, bartending, and different girls, especially once Earl died. But now Zoe was here. She was with him now, at least for the time being, but they weren't taking about what was going to happen if she got her fellowship up in New York.

"You stayed here." He looked over at Earl. "You used to hate it. What changed?"

Wade studied him hard. "Who else is gonna make sure you're okay?" he asked his father. His father pulled something out of his pocket, a small pouch, putting it into Wade's hand before he clapped his son's shoulder.

"I should've given you this early." Earl shrugged, "It's yours to do as you want. I'll see you around. Take care." Wade watched his father walk away before he opened the pouch. It was a key with a keychain, the key to the old house. He looked up to where his father had disappeared, then back to the key and gave a small, sad smile as he squeezed it.

* * *

><p>"Morning Lavon!" Zoe called to the mayor as she entered the kitchen a few days later. Wade had dropped her off at the big house. "How are you this morning?"<p>

"I'm good, Big Z. What's up?" he asked her as she took a seat before him on one of the stools.

"Do you know who Annaliese or Anna Louise is?" she asked. Lavon looked at her funny. "Earl came around last night drunk and was calling out those names."

"Lavon Hayes is not at a liberty to disclose such information."

"But-" Zoe whined.

"Sorry Zoe." Zoe pouted, but smiled when Lavon put a pancake on her plate. When she finished, she stood and immediately grabbed onto the chair as the room shook. "Zoe!" Lavon called, his voice sounding like he was at the far end of a tunnel. He grabbed Zoe around the waist and arm as she felt the first wave of nausea wash over her. She brought a hand over her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut. Lavon helped her over to the couch, and she sat. "Ney, are you okay? You got really pale there for a second."

"I feel fine now, sort of," she said, laying her head back on the armrest and closing her eyes. She was still pale enough to look like she had just passed out. "I feel a little sick. We had most of Bluebell in the office the last two days with colds and flues. I probably just caught it too." Lavon nodded, not completely convinced. She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Can you give me a ride back to my house, please?"

"Are you sure?"

"I don't want to be held responsible with getting the mayor sick." Lavon nodded and the moment Zoe was inside her house, he pulled away and called Wade.

* * *

><p>Being in the house was like stepping through a time warp. Though his uncle, his father's brother, had lived here for a while, the house had been mostly abandoned through the two thousands. Still, it had been his home.<p>

It had been built in 1832 as a large cotton plantation. It had around nine hundred acres at that time, give or take some. There was a large lake towards the edge of these nine hundred ages, and several outer buildings. During the Civil War, a number of the slave cabins had been burnt by the Yankee army, but the Kinsellas of the time made up a militia of their own and hand been able to preserve most of the land. After the Civil War, several hundred acres were divided up and given to the newly freed slaves, and work was offered to some of them back at the main house.

At the end of the First World War, there was two hundred acres of land and it had stayed that size ever since. The lake became shared by the wealthy houses that popped up around it during the late fifties and early sixties. It was beautiful there, and a number of wealthies had made it a vacation spot during that time. It was during this time when his father had met Annaliese Friedrich Starr.

She was beautiful, a golden girl. Her parents were German immigrants and her father owned a booming periodical. They fell in love, and got married years later, after they were reunited when she returned hoping to see him again. When his mama died, Earl had bought himself a small piece of property, a narrow thing in town, to get himself away from the memories. Ethan became the boys' caretaker, but he worked in Mobile, so taking care of Wyatt and Weston fell to him. From time to time, Uncle Moe, his father's older brother would stop in, teaching Wade to cook recipes that had been in their family since before the Civil War and some of his own creations.

When Weston and Wyatt had both taken off, Wade had left the place to Ethan, and took his father's example, moving into town more, taking up residence on the mayor's plantation as a handy man. The former mayor before Lavon hadn't minded, and Lavon didn't either. When Ethan died, he couldn't make the trip out to travel to fix the place up. Parts of it had been updated, other parts, like the crown molding and the ornate banister that went up the grand staircase, along with the staircase.

Inside the living room, the was a parlor grand piano. As a boy, he remembered his mama and his father's mother playing beautiful tunes on it. One night, while the baby sitter was on the landline with her boyfriend, he had snuck in to try to play it. His parents had gotten home, and after that, his mama started teaching him how to play. Now, the piano was covered with a thick layer of dust.

He pulled back the heavy curtains that covered the windows, revealing the sunlight to the room that hadn't seen it in years. He'd loved this room as a child. It seemed so magical, like he had stepped through from another time. There was a painting of a woman dressed in early eighteen hundreds style of clothing hung about the mantle. Everything in the room was pasted down through the generations. Hundreds of Kinsellas had passed through this house. That fact had comforted him when his mama had passed away and he took care of his brothers long enough for Uncle Ethan to get back to them. They had all made it through the worst of things, he could too.

He sat down at the piano after brushing the dust from the seat. He hoped he could remember the tune his mother used to play. He tapped the first key and hearing it sound funny, he stood again, reaching under the lid of the piano. And there was something there, something that seemed to have fallen through. He reached in, grabbing the object, and pulling it out. It was his mother's engagement ring.

Wade knew perfectly well that his mother hadn't been buried with her rings. They were supposed to go to the eldest son to give to his fiancé, as they had for the past hundred or so years. Every thing in his family seemed to be passed down. As he studied the ring, a garnet, surrounded by diamonds. He had remembered this ring, every memory of his mama had her wearing it. Losing track of time just looking at the ring, he heard his phone ring.

"Hey Lavon, what's up?"

"You need to come back here now. It's Zoe." And just like that, his insides froze up. His mouth went dry.

"I'll be right there."

* * *

><p>Zoe sat on the bathroom floor, right over the toilet, emptying her guts into it, or so it felt. "Zoe?" she heard Wade call and she let out a soft groan. She didn't want him to see her like this. She looked awful. Wade came through the bathroom doorway.<p>

"Go away," she mumbled, "Don't wanna get you sick too," she moaned as another wave of nausea hit her. Wade walked behind her, dropping down behind her, pulling her hair up off her shoulders with one hand, rubbing soothing circles on her shoulder with another hand. He pressed his lips to her shoulder. When she finished, he stood, leaving the room. Zoe looked after him in disbelief and she heard the front door shut. She didn't actually want him to go away. A few minutes later, Wade reappeared in the bathroom, a cup in hand. "What-?"

"It's flat coke. My mama always used to give it to us went we were sick. It's supposed to help sooth your stomach." He sat down on the edge of the tub and handed Zoe the cup. Cautiously, she took a sip.

"Do you have more?" he held up the rest of the can, pouring it into her cup.

"Ya gotta drink it slow or you'll make yourself sick again." Zoe nodded, lowering the cup from her lips and laying her head on his knees. Wade brought his fingers to her hair, running them through it.

"I feel awful," she muttered. Wade snorted quietly.

"I'll bet."

"I don't remember the last time I was this sick." Wade nodded.

"You done?" he asked her, "'Cuz you should be getting' yourself back to bed, Doc."

"Oh," Zoe said slyly, looking up at him with doe eyes, "On whose orders?"

"My orders. Unless you want to order yourself to bed rest." Zoe giggled as Wade slapped her behind as she stood. "Get this cute butt of yours to bed now." Zoe walked out to her bed.

"Hey Wade?" she called as he walked out, "Will you stay with me?" He nodded and kissed her forehead, laying down in bed with her.

"Of course I will." She curled up, using him as a pillow. She was beautiful, he realized, he had always known that, but right now, as sick as she was, she was still the most beautiful woman on earth to him.

One hand reached down into his pocket, fingering his mother's ring. Someday, he was going to give it to her. Someday very soon.

* * *

><p>See, cute and fluffy. I'm in a way better mood now that things have gotten a little brighter around here (but only figuratively. It's been storming here the past few days.) Ha!<p>

Yes, I made Lemon and George elope. No, I'm not showing them get married. Yes, I will admit that I shamelessly took that idea from last week HOD where Lemon's telling George that they should elope.

So I was looking through floor plans for about a month. The pictures of that will be up later today on my website (link on my profile.)

Review! I appreciate the reviews. I like knowing that people are reading. So review. 90 reviews to next chapter.


	14. BI: Doctors & Discussions

So you people are all amazing. I think this is the quickest I've ever had it hit the goal of reviews I set. It wasn't even twenty hours yet! So, I'm rewarding you with another chapter.

So Jack and Zoe time. I realized 'oh, hey, Zoe's his cousin and guardian's girlfriend. They haven't had a whole lot of 'air' time together'. So this is mostly a very family oriented chapter. Lavon is acting as a big brother/friend to Zoe. Zoe and Jack finally have a conversation. Paul is back in this chapter! I love my OC's, perhaps more than my stories.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>"Hey Zoe!" Jack said with a grin, sitting down on the edge of the bed besides Zoe in her little house. "Feeling better?"<p>

Zoe lifted her hand, making a so, so motion. A week and a half later and she was still sick. She hated being sick. She hadn't been sick since the summer before med school. Now she had been sick for a whole week. It wasn't definitely wasn't that bug everyone else had. That bug only lasted two days, maybe three tops.

"Do you know what you have?" Zoe shrugged.

"Not really. But I'm not about to go to Brick and find out. It was one thing going to him to get my cast off, a whole 'nother thing to find out why I'm sick."

Jack nodded. "Wade won't say, but he's worried. I'm worried, Rose is worried, and Lavon's worried. So do us all a favor and get yourself checked out." He stood up, going to leave, when her voice stopped him.

"Jack? Can you drive?" He turned, brows furrowed.

"Why?"

"To drive me somewhere."

"I have my permit, if that's what you mean." Zoe nodded. "Where are we going to and why can't Wade drive you?"

"Up to Mobile and Wade's working." The Rammer Jammer was closed for the whole week as he and the rest of the staff cleaned things up, gave everything a fresh coat of paint and stained the floors again. They were redesigning the menus, taking something's off, changing the recipes, etc. Wade was adding his own touch to the place.

"What about Lavon? Why can't he drive?"

"Go ask him then." Jack took off and Zoe went to get ready, stopping for a few seconds to look at her face. She was kind of pale and did look rather sick and she had lost a few pounds around her face. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number Paul had given her.

"Hello? How may I help you?" a secretary asked.

"Is Dr. Altman in today?" Paul had taken a page out of her book after his father turned him down for the fellowship, as well, deciding to come to Mobile to Clara Mae's cousin's practice.

"He is, but he's not taking last minute appointments," the secretary said with a snotty tone that sounded like Lemon went Zoe first arrived in Bluebell.

"May I speak to him? Tell him it's Zoe." She heard the secretary grumble, but comply and Paul picked up the phone.

"Well, well, well... if it isn't little Miss Dr. Hart. What can I do for you, Zoe?"

"I'm sick," the tiny doctor muttered through the phone, "Can I come in today? I'm not going to put myself through the embarrassment of going to Brick here." Paul chuckled.

"Of course you can. Do you have a ride or should I send Clara down?" Despite her name being Clara Mae, both Zoe and Paul always had dropped the 'Mae' off her name, along with a large chunk of the other New Yorkers who knew her. Clara was happy to be back South again, closer to her parents, and Paul was actually happy being not under his father's watch.

"Na, thanks though. I'm having Lavon drive us."

"Lavon? The Lavon Hayes? And who's we, Zoe? Is Wade coming?"

"Wade's working. I'm watching his cousin, Jack, for him." Paul chuckled.

"I'll see you in a little while then."

"Thank you," Zoe said gratefully, her voice full of relief, "I'll see you in a bit."

* * *

><p>"Rose!" A voice called and Rose looked up to see Frederick Dean crossing the library to where she was. "Hey! How are you?"<p>

"I'm... I'm good."

"Good, good. That's good." Rose nodded. "So... I was wonderin' if tonight you're busy? There's that movie playin' in the square. I'd like it if you'd go with me."

Rose looked up at him. This was Frederick Dean. Why couldn't she feel something for him? Who had changed? Was it him? Or was it her? She had liked him, but now, he was asking her out, and she wanted to run in the other direction.

"Actually, I've already got plans," she lied. He looked sad at this and discouraged but nodded.

"It's alright," he said with a half-smile, "Have fun." Rose nodded.

* * *

><p>"I need some advice," Jack declared halfway into their ride.<p>

"What sort of advice?" Lavon asked cautiously.

"I like this girl, but I don't think she's interested. I think she likes another guy. What do I do?"

"Does she know you like her?" Zoe asked him.

"I think she does."

"Is this girl Rose?" the doctor asked him wisely, watching with satisfaction as the teen's face colored.

"Maybe."

"Well, Lavon Hayes had not had good luck with girls up until Didi," the mayor told the boy and he looked back expectantly at Zoe. She shrugged.

"My last relationship was an epic fail. My relationship with Wade has been my most successful relationship yet." Jack deflated, looking out the window quietly. "Hey, Rose likes you as a friend. Considering she doesn't know you very well, that's good progress."

"I guess." Jack turned back to look at Zoe. "Do you love Cousin Wade?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, I'm just curious." The boy went quiet for a moment. "Do you want to marry him?"

Lavon chuckled and Zoe went red. "Did Wade put you up to askin' this, boy?" the mayor asked the kid. Jack shook his head. His next words were spoken in a hush tone, almost too hard to hear.

"No, I was just wondering if they got married, if I would be out of a place to stay. I don't want to have to go live with my _mother_ again or that school in England. I had one friend there and the teachers hated me."

Zoe's eyes softened and she reached her hand up to him, squeezing his arm. "Jack, if Wade and I get married, you'll still live with us. Wade loves you and I love you." Jack stared back at her with a glassy eyed expression and a small smile forming.

"Really? You mean that?"

"Of course I do." Jack grinned.

"I love you too, Cousin Zoe." Lavon chuckled.

"I guess he's decided you're already married to Wade, huh?" Zoe's face flamed up again. "Although, you two have been actin' like a married couple now."

"Shut up, Lavon."

* * *

><p>Wade looked up as the bell of the Rammer Jammer door dinged and Rose walked in. "Hey Wade," she grinned, "Does Shelley still need help designin' menus?"<p>

Wade nodded. "She back in the office."

"Where's Jack?" she asked, surveying the restaurant. Of all the workers there, Wade's cousin and ward was MIA. "I woulda thought he'd be here."

"Jack's with Zoe and Lavon today. He said something about spendin' quality time with them."

Rose nodded, trying not to show she was disappointed, before heading back in to where Shelley was. The waitress looked up from the computer and smiled and waved at her. Rose smiled back at her, taking a seat beside the computer.

* * *

><p>"Hi, I'm Zoe Hart, Dr. Altman's 11 o'clock." The secretary didn't even look up.<p>

"So he's cheatin' on his wife, huh? He coulda picked a prettier lady to do it with." Zoe looked appalled at the woman.

"How dare you? Paul's like my brother! I'd-"

"Diagnose that I needed heart surgery and make me tragically die in the operating room if I even suggested such a thing as cheating on my beautiful and wonderful wife who I love so much," Paul finished from behind, looking at the secretary. "Ignore her," he told Zoe, "Her boyfriend had been seeing another two women for the past year. Three cell phones and everything."

"Ugh, sounds like something Zach would have done." Her friend chuckled good-naturedly.

"Let's go see why you're sick, Dr. Hart. My office is just on back this way."

Zoe hadn't called. Lavon hadn't called. Heck, even Jack hadn't called. It was so unlike them, so unusual. Lavon had been calling with updates on how Zoe was feeling for the past several days now. Taking matters into his own hands, he dialed the mayor's number.

"Hello, this is Lavon Hayes, Mayor of Bluebell. I am not able to take your call at the moment. Please leave your name and number, and I'll be gettin' back to you." Wade blinked. It was so unlike Lavon not to answer. Trying his friend's cell phone now, he waited.

"'Ello?"

"Hey Lavon. No one's called."

"Your cousin talked Zoe into going to the doctors. So she called her doctor friend and we're up in Mobile. She didn't want you to be worryin'."

"'Didn't want me worryin'?" he shouted in disbelief through the phone, "So whose brilliant plan was it not to call and tell me this?"

"Uhhh... Lavon Hayes knows better than to answer that question."

"Lavon..." Wade growled.

"Look, I'm sure she's fine. Boy, stop your worryin'. Zoe Hart's a smart woman. She'd know if it were something serious." Wade looked away, picking a spot on the ceiling, and counted to ten.

"Zoe's only friends in the doctor community are heart surgeons, Lavon."

"This one's a GP." This shocked Wade. A GP? Zoe had a friend who's a GP? He'd have to talk to her later about it. "Hey, Wade, I've got to go."

"Bye," the Rammer Jammer's new owner muttered angrily.

* * *

><p>"Well, Zoe, I've got your test results." Paul sat down before her in a chair.<p>

"So?" Zoe asked nervously, "I already know I diagnosed myself wrong the first time. So what's the verdict?"

to be continued...

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><p>Cliff hanger.<p>

I hate these, personally, but this was just the perfect place to end the chapter.

I'd like to hear from you, my amazing readers. What should Zoe have? Any favorite diseases? Pneumonia? Flu? Cold? Stomach virus? Anemia? Other? Review and tell me what you think Zoe has or should have.

100 reviews and the chapter is up tonight or tomorrow and Zoe's not terminally ill. :)


	15. BI: Ending a Chapter & Beginning a New

So last chapter was short because this one is so long. This chapter marks the end of the first section of Where We Begin, and after reading, you will all understand why. Thank you all for all of your amazing reviews. I think almost everyone will be happy with this chapter. It's very fluffy and light and I can almost guarantee that you'll have a smile on your face by the time you finish reading.

It's mostly all written as a flashback. The normal font is present time. The italicized font is the flashbacks. In this chapter, Zoe and Wade have been together for about four to five months. It's about two to three weeks after the last chapter, or at least all the stuff set in the present is.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Previously on Where We Begin:<p>

"_Well, Zoe, I've got your test results." Paul sat down before her in a chair._

* * *

><p>Wade drummed his fingers nervously. Everything looked amazing. Shelley had helped him out some, and Rose, and even Lemon and AnnaBeth, the former just returning from her honeymoon. George clapped his shoulder.<p>

"Relax. Ever'thing's gonna be fine."

"How do you know?" he asked his old time friend.

"When I proposed to Lemon, I had just gotten back from New York and I was ready to have her ready to break up from me. Zoe's here. She loves you."

"She's been acting rather strange lately though." George looked at Wade sympathetically.

"Things will work out. It's gonna be fine."

* * *

><p><em>The car door slammed and Wade walked around to Zoe's side of the car. "Whoa! This place is incredible."<em>

"_This is where I grew up."_

"_It looks like something out of a fairytale." Wade chuckled and Zoe leaned up to kiss him. "Thank you for bringing me here."_

"_We haven't even been inside yet." She shrugged her shoulders._

"_Still, thank you. George told me that you hadn't brought anyone out here in forever and that he and Lemon were the only ones you'd brought out."_

"_Yeah. They were my friends." He looked down at her conspiratorially. "That and I may have played a part in the two of them getting together in high school."_

"_Really?" Zoe asked, eyes wide, "That's amazing."_

"_Come on inside, Doc," he said, holding open one heavy oak door for her. A gasped escaped his girlfriend as she stepped inside._

"_Wow."_

"_Yeah. That's what I always remember thinkin'." They laughed lightly together. "I packed us a picnic to eat out on the lake," Wade told her._

"_There's a lake?" He never remembered her acting so childlike before. It was adorable._

"_There's two hundred acres of property here. Of course there's a lake."_

* * *

><p>"Hey man!" Liam called, fist bumping Wade, "You nervous?" George looked at Liam and they both laughed at Wade's expression. "Oh lighten up."<p>

"Zoe's been actin' strange lately," Wade told Zoe's brother. Liam raised his eyebrow.

"It's Zoe. The only time she doesn't act strange is when she's depressed or sick. That's how we'd know she was sick. She's probably just planning a birthday surprise for you."

Wade nodded.

* * *

><p>"<em>I love you, Wade," Zoe whispered, kissing him as she leaned over the middle of the boat. Wade closed his eyes, savoring the kiss, his hands tangling up in her hair; they came down, tracing her curves. He pulled his mouth back, pressing it down her throat, her shoulder.<em>

"_I love you too," he muttered once her surfaced for air. "Let's go swimming." Zoe eyed him nervously, and then grinned._

"_Alright."_

* * *

><p>"So what do you know about this Paul guy?" Wade asked.<p>

"Oh, we've known him forever. He's our brother," Liam told him, "just not by blood."

"So he was working for that fellowship that Zoe wanted too?"

"Yeah. Him and Clara, his wife, moved down here once his father rejected him for the spot. He's up in Mobile working at her cousins'. Zoe was her maid of honor. She set the two of them up." Wade nodded. "Did she tell you?" Wade blinked.

"About what?"

"Her other great love besides being a heart surgeon?" Wade nodded. Zoe had come clean about the skating.

* * *

><p>"<em>Hey! I know her." Wade stared at her in confusion.<em>

"_How?"_

"_She was in New York, at Rockefeller Rink. I used to go there every year for as long as I could."_

"_That's my mama, Zoe." Zoe looked over at him, studying him as if she was seeing him for the first time._

"_You're that boy!" she realized._

"_What boy?"_

"_You told me you used to come up to New York with your mom at Christmastime." Wade nodded, and then suddenly it clicked._

"_You're the tiny brunette who wasn't looking where she was going and ran into me." He chuckled, pulling her into his arms. "Who'd have thought it? That I'd meet you here in Bluebell."_

"_And that we'd be in love." Wade grinned._

"_Who'd have thought that a girl like Zoe Hart would have fallen in love with a bartender like me?"_

"_You don't give yourself enough credit," she whispered, bringing her lips to his. Minutes later, she pulled back. "I have something I need to tell you."_

_He looked down at her worriedly. "What is it?"_

"_I used to skate."_

"_Yeah, I know. According to Gigi, Roxana, and Lemon, you still skate." Zoe shook her head._

"_No, I mean, I used to figure skate. I used to compete." He blinked. "My name used to be Zonne Reinhardt, but after I quit competing, I shorted it to Zoe." Then she fell into the full story about her parents coming from the Netherlands, her skating, the Olympics, when her name became Zoe, meeting her real grandfather for the first time. When she finished, he kissed her._

"_Thank you for telling me."_

* * *

><p>"She told me." Liam shrugged.<p>

"Then you know all her secrets. Zoe's not very good about keeping secrets, but that one... only ones who know knew her then."

"Oh wow, I didn't even realize-"

"Of course you didn't. It's the Hart family's best kept secret, aside from Bubbe's little affair." The three men looked at the old man following around the old woman as they headed towards the back of the house. The old woman looked like what Zoe might look like in another fifty to sixty years.

"Well, it sounds like something out of a movie," Wade deducted. Liam chuckled.

"Mom was mad when she found out. Tatte laughed though. Karma, he said." The three men laughed. "So how is it that you pulled this off?"

"Rose, mostly."

"The girl with the glasses who was playing hard to get with that kid, your cousin?" George nodded, answering Liam's question for Wade.

"That's Rose, alright."

* * *

><p>"<em>You want me to do what now?" Rose yelled.<em>

"_Shh," Wade hushed her, "Lower your voice, girl. Do you want all of Bluebell to hear?"_

"_It's just... you want me to spy on Zoe?"_

"_Eh, when you put it like that it sounds so bad."_

"_Then how do you say it so it doesn't sound bad?" the teenager asked, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning at him down her nose, reminding him distinctly of his ninth grade math teacher._

"_I'd like you to gather information on Zoe and report it back to me." Rose huffed._

"_Fine."_

* * *

><p>"<em>So you want me to pick out a wedding dress?" Zoe asked Rose in disbelief. "Why?"<em>

"_Because it's fun. I want to have fun."_

"_Fine," Zoe said, giving in. That's how she found herself trying on gown after gown._

"_So what's your favorite flower?"_

"_Hibiscus, azalea, and tulips. Why?" Zoe asked suspiciously._

"_I'm just curious. I feel like I hardly know you." Zoe eyed Rose but otherwise accepted her answer. "Where would you want to get married?"_

"_I always wanted to get married on the waterfront," she said with a dreamy look in her eyes._

"_Who would you want there?"_

"_My parents, my brother, Roxana, Viviana, Gigi, Bubbe and Zeyde, Lavon and Didi, Lemon and George, Paul and Clara, you, Jack, Wade's brothers, Earl, who ever else Wade wanted to bring, and Wade at the end of the isle." Rose noticed the tone Zoe's voice had taken on, the faraway look on her face, like she was imagining the wedding. Still, Rose scribbled down the names._

"_What color would you want your wedding to be?"_

_Zoe snapped out of her trance. "I don't know, Rose, why are you asking me this?" Her eyes narrowed as she saw the notebook in her hands. "Why are you writing my answers down?"_

_Rose panicked, then lied. "Fine, you caught me. We have an assignment in my English class where we have to write about our dream wedding but I just have no idea, so I figured bring you here, get you in the wedding mood, and then I'd make your answers my essay. Of course I'd change a few things here and there."_

* * *

><p><em>Rose slapped the notebook into Wade's hands. "Hope you're happy."<em>

_Wade looked through the answers. "Yes, I am. Thank you, Rose."_

* * *

><p>"Yeah, Rose was a big, big help. She got all the number for the dress and gave them to AnnaBeth who ordered it."<p>

"That's crazy," George muttered, "And Zoe has no idea?"

"Zoe thinks Rose is writing a paper in English about 'Rose's' dream weddin'." The other two men chuckled at Wade's statement.

"What's going on?" Zoe asked Lemon.

"Na uh," the blonde said, waving her finger at Zoe. She had been acting weird all day. First, she insisted they have their hair and nails done before they had to stop at Lemon's house for the girl to change for them to sit in the car and drive Zoe to who knows where. "I'm not tellin' you."

"You're not taking me out into the woods and murdering me and that way when they find my body, my hair looks great and no one will suspect you because they all thought you were such a great friend to me, right?" Lemon laughed.

"There was a time I might have considered the first part, but no, I'm not murdering you in the middle of the woods." Zoe breathed out in relief.

"So where are we going then?"

"I can't tell you." Zoe groaned in frustration.

* * *

><p>"They're driving around the corner," Jack told Wade through the walkie-talkie.<p>

"Thanks kid," he told his cousin, passing George the walkie-talkie and him and Liam going inside. He took a deep breath as he saw Lemon's car pull into the drive and park.

"We're here," he heard Lemon say, "Why don't you go on up ahead?"

Zoe saw Wade on the porch of the house and things seemed to click for her. Wade had somehow recruited Lemon to distract her and bring her here. What was he up to? She stopped right before him. "Hi," she said softly.

"Hey," He was dressed nicely and suddenly, he knelt before her on his left kneel. "I love you, Zoe. I love you so much. And that's why I'm asking you to marry me?"

Zoe gasped, tears coming to her eyes and she fell to her knees, hugging him tightly. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes," she chanted, kissing him between each yes.

Lemon pulled out her camera and snapped a picture of them and Wade pulled out his mother's ring, sending Zoe to kiss him again.

"You planned all of this? Lemon kidnapping me?" Wade shrugged, helping her up off the ground.

"I wanted to do something really special for you," he whispered in a soft voice, "Will you marry me right now, Zoe Hart?"

She stared up into his eyes and nodded. "All right." It wasn't logic. It was love.

Lemon came up behind her, covering Zoe's eyes with her hands. "When I tell you to step up, you step up, understand?" Zoe nodded. The blonde grinned at Wade. "See, told ya."

Wade grinned back, stealing one last kiss from his fiancé before she would become his wife. He liked the sound of that.

Lemon guided Zoe up a set of stairs and into a room. When the blonde pulled her hands away, she was met by the smiling faces of Gigi, Roxana, Viviana, and Rose. Clara walked out from what appeared to Zoe to be a closet. Quickly, she ushered Zoe inside, allowing the girl to sit at the vanity. "You just sit back and relax, Zoe. We're going to take good care of you," the younger of the two belles said to the doctor before squeezing her hand, "Just close your eyes and relax."

When Zoe opened her eyes, what felt like hours later, she was dressed in the gown she had tried on at the store Rose had dragged her to, the one that had made her eyes tear up. Lemon clipped a clip into Zoe's hair and when she opened her eyes, she saw it was holding up a veil, "Something borrowed and something blue."

Her parents stepped in the room then. Her mom began to tear up at how her daughter looked. "We brought something new and the sixpence." Roxana held her hand out for the items and Zoe hugged them.

"I brought the something old," Zoe heard her Bubbe say from the doorway. She turned to her, hugging her grandmother. She snapped the locket around Zoe's neck.

"Thank you."

* * *

><p>Zoe took a minute to calm her nerves. Everyone else was downstairs, waiting for her. She turned to her father who was waiting for her. "My little girl's getting married."<p>

"I'll always be your little girl, Tatte," she gave him a watery smile.

As she walked down the stairs with him, she understood why Lemon hadn't wanted her to look. It was like she had stepped into a fairytale. It was like a dream, a beautiful, beautiful dream. Her mother met them at the bottom of the stairs and she took both of their arms and together, they continued.

They walked out the back door of the house, down the steps, and she saw Wade, standing, facing away. The lake was glittering behind them in the late afternoon light. She saw George tap Wade's arm and he turned around and it was like nothing else mattered. His face was lit up and she was sure hers was too. When she stopped up at the end of the isle, her parents kissed her checks before releasing her.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony," Reverend Mayfair began.

Zoe looked up into Wade's eyes and he mouthed to her, "You look beautiful." Zoe responded by looking down at their joined hands and blushing.

* * *

><p>"<em>So?" Zoe asked nervously, "I already know I diagnosed myself wrong the first time. So what's the verdict?"<em>

_Paul laughed. "Stop looking so nervous." He reached over and squeezed his friend's hand. "It's not the worst thing in the world."_

"_Then what is it?"_

* * *

><p>She zoned back in to say "I do," and for Reverend Mayfair to say, "You may now kiss your bride."<p>

Wade's lips touched hers, and everything faded away. There was only him and her and this little piece of earth that they were standing on. She felt blissful and loved and everything was perfect.

The silence faded away when clapping broke through and Gigi muttering something about "Good luck getting them to surface."

When they broke apart, "I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Wade Kinsella."

* * *

><p>Zoe had been in Wade's arms most of the night. Everyone one she could have hoped for was there. Wade had done such an amazing thing for her. He had planned out everything for her, exactly how she wanted it. He'd taken away months of stress and pressure she didn't need by just having her show up to her own wedding. It was incredible.<p>

He was incredible.

"There's something I need to tell you," she whispered into his ear. He pulled back slightly, concerned.

"What is it?"

A cheery looking man clapped Wade's shoulder just then. "Hey big bro, stop monopolizing our new sister."

A second man joined the first, and she could see their resemblance to Wade. "Zoe, these are my brother's Wyatt and Weston." The younger of the two, Wyatt, who was tall and handsome and looked more like his older brother than the middle one did, held out his hand to her.

"Care to dance?" Zoe shrugged, kissing her _husband_ one last time before she allowed his brother to sweep her out on the dance floor for a dance. "Welcome to the family, by the way. I'd have never thought I'd see Wade settle down. You must be one special woman to have my brother go through all this, willingly, without your knowledge."

Zoe blushed again. It felt like that's all she'd been doing all night is blushing. The song ended and Wade was right there besides her, taking her back into his arms.

"So what were you going to say, before we were interrupted?"

* * *

><p>"<em>You're pregnant." Zoe blinked.<em>

"_Pregnant?" she whispered._

"_Yeah. Do you want to see it? We might even be able to hear its heartbeat."_

_Paul showed her the sonogram. There was a baby there. Before, seeing those pictures, it was so cold and scientific, but that was her baby. __And a grin overtook Zoe's face. Her child, their child was in there and it had a heartbeat. It was alive. She was going to be a _mom_._

* * *

><p>Zoe moved one of Wade's hands from her waist to her stomach. At first, he was confused. But then, he seemed to understand. And when he kissed her this time, she was sure that the grins might never fade from their faces.<p>

Everything was perfect.

"How long?"

"About eight and a half weeks."

"I'm going to be a father," he gasped with painful reality. Zoe beamed and kissed him with a burning passion that didn't seem like it would fade. "God, I love you."

"And I love you too."

* * *

><p>It wasn't a horse-drawn carriage or a limousine or a town car that took her and Wade to their honeymoon, or at least to the airport, but the faded Chevelle had never looked so nice and the man behind the wheel was no Prince Charming, but he was her soul mate in every way. She'd take her worst day fighting with him over the best day with anyone else, because he was hers in every meaning of the word and she was his and he was her husband and she'd be crazy if he left him.<p>

* * *

><p>As they stumbled into the room in where Wade had brought them, they didn't even both turning on the lights. Once Wade dropped their luggage, the moonlight was all they needed.<p>

They stumbled back onto the bed as their lips met over and over again and gentle whispers of quiet sweet nothings and 'I love you's were exchanged.

And everything was perfect.

* * *

><p>So this is the end of them being single, thus the end of a chapter. At this point in they're relationship in this story, I only felt it was the next thing to come next. They're going to be parents soon so it's only natural to me that they're married. No, Wade didn't know she was pregnant before she told him. Paul legally couldn't tell because of the patient-doctor confidentiality.<p>

Congrats all of you who guessed right! After I went back and reread the stuff where Zoe had the miscarriage, I felt awful about it, so I've been hinting in the last couple chapters that she's pregnant, ever since the middle of Ch 12 where it says, "He hadn't seen her smile thing much since the accident over two weeks ago. For two whole weeks, he had lived with his beautiful girlfriend pouting, crying, and angry, but never smiling." You're actually supposed to wait two weeks after a miscarriage before you try to get pregnant again. I can't tell you how much research I put into looking up stuff for this story. I say it's well work it.

I don't write smut, so that's why the honeymoon's description conveniently ends there.

Did everyone see Wade's face become all sad when he was talking about Judson being Zoe's true love and how it brightened when Zoe said that Judson wasn't?

Review! 115 reviews to the next chapter.


	16. BII: Honeymoon and Hart to Hart

So this is the first of the new "chapter". On the titles, I've added the letter "B" and a Roman numeral. B stands for book, so this is kind of like Avatar: the Last Airbender where they were like Book 1: Water. That's just a technical thing for my sanity and so of you people's sanity as well.

I'm glad you guys liked the wedding. I got a great response to that chapter, in fact, it was third in my all time top reviews, so thank you!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Zoe lay her head on Wade's chest. She couldn't believe how wonderful her <em>husband<em> was to her. She couldn't believe he was her husband. She couldn't believe Wade had planned the most incredible dream wedding, right down to every last detail. He had bought her the wedding dress she had loved, planned to give her the wedding she wanted. He had flown her brother in from Germany, her parents and best friends from New York, her grandparents from the Netherlands where they had decided to "go back in time to when they met", all of them. He was amazing. He was wrong about her being the amazing one. He was. And he loved her. It was the most incredible thing she'd ever experienced. Her hand moved to her stomach. She was pregnant. She had Wade's child, their child, growing in her.

Her parents had told her that Wade had asked them and her bubbe and her brother and even her zeyde, who knew so little about her other than biologically she was his granddaughter and she had reunited him with the love of his life. Lemon had assured her that that was just the way that Southern boys were. After living in Bluebell and not opening a door for herself in the presence of a man in months, Zoe had realized how spoiled she had become. In New York, the idea of a man pulling out a chair for you, opening the door, or even asking your parents for permission to marry you were such foreign ideas that they had joked about that after seeing it in the movies.

Her husband's lips touched her bare shoulder with the lightest of kisses, his hands snaking around to the front of her body, pulling them closer together. Zoe rolled over to look at him in the eyes and he was smirking. "Good morning," she whispered, kissing his lips.

"Actually, I think it's more like good afternoon."

"I don't care," she muttered, "I could stay in bed all day." The blond chuckled at her statement before he felt her froze.

"Zoe?" he asked cautiously. She pulled back the covers and ran for the bathroom. Wade stood too, grabbing his boxers from the floor and one of the complimentary bathrobes from the closet and followed her into the bathroom.

And there she was, leaning over the toilet as she threw up most of what she had eaten yesterday. He draped the robe around her as chills seemed to shake her body, slipping onto the floor beside her and pulling her hair back. When she was finished, Wade watched as she slipped her arms into the robe, then looked up at him with her wide, dark doe-eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered, and his heart nearly broke at the look on her face.

"Come here, darlin'," he muttered, pulling her close and pressing his lips to her forehead. "There ain't nothin' to be sorry for. You say that like it's your fault you're sick." She went to open her mouth to speak, but Wade spoke first. "Do you know how amazin', how surreal all of this is to me? That you, Zoe Kinsella, love me and are married to me and are carryin' my child. Feels like just yesterday you were walkin' 'round Bluebell, scarin' ever'one with those short shorts and heels of yours."

"I'm not that amazing." Wade smiled softly at her.

"You're a lot more amazin' than you think, girl," he told her, helping her up. She brushed her teeth as Wade went a pulled their suitcases from the suite's living room to their massive bedroom.

"I'm going to take a shower. Wanna join me?" she asked her husband from the doorway of the bathroom. He looked up at her, his eyes darkening as he walked purposely to the bathroom, all but pulling her into the tub with him.

* * *

><p>"It's beautiful here. It's amazing," Zoe told Wade as they walked casually through the crowds of people who were shopping and walking on the waterside pier. It seemed to be one of those perfect days where everything was at peace with itself. The sky was blue and cloudless. There was a light breeze coming off the coast, yet still warm enough for the honeymooners to wear short sleeves and shorts and sun dresses for the whole trip. The smell of salt filled the air.<p>

Wade chuckled at the flabbergasted look on his tiny wife's face. "It ain't that impressive." Zoe shot him a look. "Okay, so it's impressive.

"I want to stay here forever!" she declared.

"The novelty would wear off for me," he decided and she shot him another look, this one amused. "Girl, why you lookin' at me like?" he asked playfully.

"Like what?" she teased. He laughed quietly, pulling her body flush against his, hands on her hips, and kissed her deeply. Wade may have once had a bad boy image to protect, but he was just about the biggest romantic there was. "Mmhm," she moaned, pulling back. "I don't want to have to leave here."

He settled for giving her a quiet peck on the lips before looking into her chocolate eyes. "I know, darlin'." Zoe hummed contently as they continued walking side by side, her arms around his waist, hugging him, his hand in her hair, giving her a one handed scalp massage.

"In a way, I'm kind of glad we're going back to Bluebell in the next couple of days though," she muttered into his chest.

"Oh yeah? Why?"

"Because there's a lot of crazy girls back there who don't know that you're mine." Wade grinned and the five foot brunette's possessiveness.

"And that's exactly why you don't have to worry about them coming after me. Because I'm yours. And you're mine."

"Mmm," she moaned in agreement. "So I have to know, why'd you pick here? Out of all the places in the world, why here?"

"My ma wanted to come here her whole life. She had a picture of it tacked to the fridge. Saw it ever' day. She never made it, but it's always been a special place to all of us." Zoe's eyes were wide with love and wonder as she looked up at him, standing on tiptoe to press a soft, but passion-filled kiss to his lips, their eyes closing as they savored the moment.

"Thank you for sharing it with me." She felt his lips touch her hair gently.

"Of course, darlin'."

"I love you." A smile lit up his face as they paused yet again and he looked down on her. Besides how she was miserable in the mornings that she was ill, pregnancy suited her well. Zoe was absolutely glowing, much in the same way him mama had when she was pregnant with Wyatt. He'd been old enough to remember Wyatt's birth, not so much at remembering Weston's, being that he had been much young at the time of his middle brother's birth. But Zoe, his wife, his love, she was radiant, the sun giving her an almost heavenly appearance in her white spaghetti strap sundress and the tiny wedged sandals that she insisted on wearing before "her ankle swelled up like balloons" as she had put it multiple times.

"And I love you," he told her with as much sincerity that he could muster, "You look so beautiful right now, Zoe." Zoe felt her cheeks warm from the blood rushing to them. As much as she loved Wade's nicknames for her, she loved when he called her Zoe.

* * *

><p>The flight attendant was grinning at him, her husband. Why was the leggy blonde staring at her gorgeous husband? <em>Well no wonder why, Zoe, <em>she mentally retorted. The blonde bounced over to them once the plane had taken off.

"So?" the flight attendant asked Wade, still grinning, making Zoe seethe, "How was your vacation? Do you have a camera? You two are just so adorable together!" she rambled and Zoe relaxed slightly.

Wade chuckled, noticing, squeezing the brunette's shoulder. "Zoe, this is Audri. She was on the flight we were on to New York a few months ago. She decided then that it was just so sweet that I was letting you lay on my shoulder that she kept coming back just to see it." The blonde flight attendant grinned largely and nodded. "We're married now," he informed the flight attendant.

She squealed loudly. "Aww! You're so adorable together." She smiled at them, disappearing for a minute and reappearing with a bottle of what appeared to be champagne and two glasses. Zoe shook her head.

"I can't have-"

"It's sparking cider," Audri said, cutting her off, "I saw the way you were sitting and how he was holding you and so double congratulations!" Zoe laughed quietly at the blonde.

"Are you allowed to sit for a while?" Audri shrugged, taking the seat across from them. "So where's your next flight to after this one?"

"Afghanistan," the girl said, sobering, "I'm a military pilot," she told them with a proud voice.

"Wow," the doctor whispered in a soft voice. Wade looked up at the flight attendant.

"My brother's over there too." She nodded.

"It's hard, but it's nice not just being the bubbly blonde flight attendant or 'brainless blonde' as the people in school used to call me." Wade smiled encouragingly. "So I take it you're on the way back from your honeymoon?" The couple nodded. "That's awesome." She stood up, grinning at the both. "While, enjoy your flight. I'm going to go check on the rest of the passengers." Wade looked around the rest of the first class, where the airline had upgraded them to after hearing that they were on their honeymoon. There weren't a lot of people in.

"She was nice," Zoe said in a quiet tone. Wade had a funny look on his face. "What?"

"She sounds like Wyatt. He was a goof off during school, but he was secretly really dedicated to getting his work done. Still, ever'one was stunned when he joined the army right after high school. They all thought he was real unstructured." Zoe nodded, curling into her side as he poured them both the sparkling cider.

Eventually, Audri did come back and they talked and laughed some more.

* * *

><p>It had been two days since returning from their honeymoon. Zoe stomach hadn't grown much at all, in fact, Lavon and Wade had both agreed she was just as skinny as could be. Jack had laughed when she asked him if she looked fat, saying something about it not being healthy to be so tiny and thin. Her and Wade had been talking abut moving out to his old family house where they had gotten married.<p>

Zoe and Wade were the talk of the town, well, besides Lemon and George who had also eloped. Now that their rumors had settled down about Bluebell's "royal" couple, everyone wanted to know the latest about Zoe and Wade, why they had been married so quietly, and so on. Some people brought the couple belated wedding gifts. Others were showing up at the Rammer Jammer every day, just to see the two together. The fact that they had been together for only almost five months before marrying was almost like a scandal, but anyone could see how in love the two were.

Some of the townspeople were now coming to see Zoe instead of Brick, such as the Belles who preferred to talk to a woman doctor about certain things rather than Lemon's father. Other members of the community had began coming to her. Zoe's had forty-two point two percent of the patients now in the practice. She was happy here, and she hadn't mentioned it to Wade yet, but when the year was over, she was staying here. Her hand slid to her still flat stomach and she smiled.

A knock on the door to her office made Zoe look up at Addie. "Your dad's here," she said in a quiet voice and Zoe nodded.

"Send him on in." The man came in, sitting down before her. "Hi Tatte," she spoke.

"We're heading off to the airport soon. You already said goodbye to your mother though." Zoe nodded, standing, and her father also stood and embraced her. "You better call us when it's time to meet our grandchild." Zoe blushed.

"We will. How did you know?" She shook her head. "Lemon."

"Wade's a good guy." He glanced in the direction of the Rammer Jammer. "I just came from over there. He loves you. And the kid, Jack, also loves you. You're in good hands here."

"I know." She closed her eyes for a moment.

"I'm so proud of you, ketzile. You're a wonderful doctor. Dr. Breeland was sure impressed. I don't think I've seen you this happy since you quit skating."

"I love Wade so much, and Jack is hard not to love. He's so charming for a teenager. And Rose has been great. George is going to draw Brick and I up a new contract. Lemon and I weren't friends, but then I guess we kind of clicked, once she learned I didn't like-like George at all." The two chuckled. "I love you, Tatte."

"I love you too, ketzile."

"Hope you and Mom have a safe flight." He smiled at her.

"We will." And her father closed the door and walked out. Zoe settled down in her seat. She was comfortable and happy. Suddenly, the office door banged open and someone walking and yelled.

"Zoe, you're pregnant?"

* * *

><p>Duh duh daaaaa!<p>

So, who's this person going to be? Rose? Roxana? Gigi? Brick? Addie? Someone else? Let me hear what you think. Tell me who you think it is.

I'm not going to make a habit of this, but I figured to post this.

Some production notes/outline from this chapter:  
>Sick Zoe<br>Place is unnamed to use your imagination  
>Think somewhere beachy, but not totally tropic. Mediterranian possibly, like in Venice or Greece or even somewhere in southern Spain or Portugal. Costal Europe town<br>Audri returns!  
>make her not as airheaded<br>Dad & Zoe talk

As you can see, no specific place in mind, just a bunch of places. If you can think of somewhere, like an exact town or location, let me know. :)

125 reviews to next chapter. Anything over 130 for it quicker.


	17. BII: Of Heat Waves and Heartbreakers

So Easter came and went and I had still forgotten to update this story. Really sorry about that, everyone. I've been so busy the last few weeks I don't know if I'm coming or going. Everyone's been pretty equally busy around here, so it wasn't even like it was just me. So finally, a new chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>"Could you yell that any louder?" Zoe asked the wide-eyed Rose who was staring up at her.<p>

"It's just... you're pregnant?" The teen grinned at Zoe who gave a nod. "That's awesome! Can I plan your baby shower?"

"Rose! I'm only about two months along."

"So...?" Rose looked absolutely thrilled. "But that's not the reason why I came over. Jack asked me out for Friday and I don't know what to wear and I'm so excited."

"That's great, Rose," Zoe told her, smiling at the teen. "We can go look through my closet and if not, I'll take you shopping." She grinned, hugging Zoe.

"Thank you. I've gotta get home and finish my project so Mama will let me go." The teen ran out of the

* * *

><p>"We're supposed to have a hot spring!" Wade exclaimed to his new wife as she walked into the Rammer Jammer. "Heat wave this week."<p>

Zoe collapsed onto a barstool. Wade gave her a cup of coffee, leaning over the bar to share a kiss with his girl. "Uggh, last thing I needed." She sat back, "Jack finally asked Rose out." The bartender and owner of the Rammer Jammer looked at her.

"Are you serious?" He laughed, "Well, good for him. It's 'bout time."

"The big opening party is tonight?" Zoe confirmed, looking around. Shelley was setting up balloons; Lavon, Lemon, and George were spreading the tablecloths over all the tables, making it look fancier. She knew Wade wanted to reestablish the image of the Rammer Jammer as not just a bar, but also a restaurant with a great chef.

Wade placed a sandwich down on the counter before her, taking a seat beside her. The sandwich was warm, grilled chicken, on toasted bread. Zoe knew all too well that this was that sunflower seed bread that one of the farmer's wives made. It had been one of the things Zoe kept craving, now more than ever.

"This is good," she said after a few bites.

"One of our newest menu items."

"It's delicious." Her husband gave her a wide grin. Zoe moved over to meet his lips with his. "Thank you."

"Wade! We need help moving this!" George called from the far side of the room where he and Lavon were struggling with the portable stage and Lemon was directing them. Wade stood, running across the restaurant to help while Zoe watched and laughed.

* * *

><p>It was hot. Zoe was just glad for air conditioning. She was sweating. Brick had given her the day off for her to sit under a fan and the A.C. She closed her eyes. In her mind, she was one the ice again.<p>

"From New York Preparatory School Skating Club, please welcome tonight, Zonne Reinhardt!"

The crowd cheered and Zoe moved across the ice, her skates gliding smoothly. This is what her and Miss Dana had practiced for. She knew the routine. She slid into place.

Zoe smiled, rolling over in the hot bed, letting the air get to her back too. It was just too out.

* * *

><p>"Got lots of customers today, with all the heat and all," Shelley noted. "I feel like if we had any more people in here, we should just save the snow when it snows and pack it into the walls so we all stay cool." Wade laughed at her comment. Still, he poured them both a cup of ice water.<p>

* * *

><p>Rose was beaming. "Hey Jack." The blond boy smiled at the brunette.<p>

"Hey there Rose. You ready for Friday?" Rose grinned and nodded; unaware that Magnolia was there as well. Friday was the baseball team's practice game. The students came to those games as an excuse to hang out with their friends. Why would he be asking her about baseball?

"Of course."

"I'll meet you by the gym then," Jack told her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. The brunette colored until her cheeks looked like petals from her namesake plant. "See you later."

"Bye." Interesting, Magnolia thought, plotting in her mind.

* * *

><p>The heat was getting to them. Lavon and Lemon kept running into each other all over town. At one point, the mayor attempted to make the married woman jealous. Then George saw them and wondered why they were acting like they were.<p>

"What's going on between you and Lavon?" he asked curiously.

* * *

><p>Rose had gone over to Zoe's closet, searching for hours with the doctor to find the perfect outfit. Slim cut jeans, a bright, rosy colored sweetheart neck top; she thought she looked perfect for a date with the former schoolboy from England.<p>

Rose walked to where Jack was supposed to be. Maybe he was just late. She heard muffled sounds from behind the school building and she approached slowly, finding Jack and Magnolia locked in a passion filled embrace, lips locked together and his hands on the blonde's hips. Rose stifled a cry of pain at the sight, holding her hand over her mouth to keep from having them hear, running from the scene.

* * *

><p>"What, were you two together?" George joked, not really thinking anything of it.<p>

"Yes, I had a relationship with Lavon!" Lemon cried out, "I needed someone and he was there. He was the only one I was able to turn to..." The lawyer was shocked.

"What about me, Lemon? Why couldn't you turn to me?" George's voice carried emotions that his face couldn't even begin to display. His eyes shown brightly with betrayal and unformed tears.

"You weren't here!" she shrieked in agony, "I tried to turn to you and you hung up on me!"

"That's not a good reason of why you'd cheat!" he shouted back, ignoring the tears streaming down his wife's face, despite the pain it caused him. "I- I can't- I just can't deal with this right now," he said, stuffing clothes into a duffle bag.

"George-"

"What do you want me to say, Lemon? That I'm hurt that you couldn't turn to me, that you didn't tell me, that you lied to me for over a year about it?" George walked out into the rain as the heat wave broke, walking to his truck. Lemon chased after him, unaware of the mud sloshing into her shoes.

"Please, George, I'm sorry." He yanked open the passenger door of his truck, shoving the duffle bag in.

"Are you?" he asked angrily at her before he climbed into the driver's seat, starting the truck and driving away, leaving his yellow-clad wife, mascara running down both cheeks, in the rain, hugging at her stomach as she watched his taillights disappearing into the distance.

* * *

><p>Rose sat on the steps of the gazebo, tears streaking her face and disappearing in the rain. A set of footsteps came, then they stopped before her, taking a seat beside her. "I take it the heat wave's finally broken." Rose sniffled and Wade smiled at her awkwardly. "My cousin's an idiot," he told her.<p>

"How do ya know it was him?" she asked, rubbing her eye with the palm of her hand.

"Well, he's been going on about this date for the past week. Zoe also mentioned something 'bout. I take it he did something incredibly stupid."

"I saw him kissin' Magnolia Breeland when he was supposed to be meetin' me." Wade nodded, looking at Rose. She reminded him so much of Zoe it was incredible. It was like Zoe had a little sister or something.

"Like I said, he's an idiot. You're a pretty special girl, Rose. Any guy with two eyes and a brain can see that. One day, it's gonna be you all the guys are all flockin' to."

"You think so?" the teen asked hopefully, looking up at Wade with watery eyes.

"I do," he told her sincerely. "Now let's get you home before your mama wonders where you went." She nodded.

It was a short, but quiet ride to Rose's house. Wade stopped and Rose didn't move to get out of the Chevelle into the rain. Finally, she spoke.

"You're gonna be a pretty amazin' daddy, Wade."

"You think so?" the former bartender actually sounded scared but Rose nodded.

"Yeah. Thanks for the ride."

"No problem."

* * *

><p>"What the hell, Magnolia?" Jack yelled, pushing the blonde off of him. The rain soaked both of them.<p>

"I knew you'd rather be kissin' me than that Rose girl." Jack's eyes narrowed.

"If I wanted to be kissing you, I would have asked you out. I asked Rose out. Get this through your thick skull. I like Rose. I like Rose a lot."

"But I like you, Jack," the blonde said with a smile that bothered him, "We're meant to be together. You can do so much better than Rose Hattenbarger."

"I don't like you, Magnolia. I'd rather be with Rose. She's a great person. She's sweet and kind and _unselfish_, unlike a certain blonde standing before me." Magnolia ran her hands up his chest and he pushed them off, clenching his fists by his side. Magnolia Breeland deliberately sabotaged his date with Rose, all because she was jealous that he liked the brunette girl. That girl, she'd probably ruined any chance he had with Rose if she had seen that. As he stood, thinking about it, he got angrier. "In fact, I suggest you get out of my sight before I forget that whole rule not to hit women."

Magnolia's eyes went wide as she saw he was serious. He was shaking with fury. In fact, he would probably hit her right now and not regret it. With a wounded look, she turned and ran.

* * *

><p>"Heat's broke," Wade announced, walking into the house. Zoe was half asleep on the couch, her hand resting on her stomach. He smiled at her, lifting her up and carrying her bridal style to bed. "Lot's changed since last heat wave, huh?"<p>

Zoe grinned, pulling his mouth to hers. Zoe pulled back. "You're all wet."

"Got caught in the rain." She nodded. Wade pulled back from their embrace, closing the bedroom door before they continued onwards.

* * *

><p>So, yet another heat wave in Bluebell. Inspired by how March broke all those weather records. I think this really shows how everything's come in a full circle for the characters. Jack's always calm and everything and now he's angry. Wade and Zoe were at odds on the show and now their married. Lemon and George were the golden couple, now married as well, but they're now in a fight.<p>

135 Reviews to next chapter. I promise I'll post it more timely. Cross my heart...

If you like the Vampire Diaries, check out my story Who Knew.


	18. BII: Aftermaths and Aftershocks

Wow, it's been a little while since a real chapter! I was experimenting with some different (for me) writing styles for this chapter though, coupled with the added stress and pressure from finals. I settled on the "flash" style (which is what I call it), where it sort of goes between characters and they all have their own story lines that all somehow interact with the big overall picture, kind of like on the tv shows where they go between characters with just music over. Because so much had happened in the last chapter, the first part of the chapter isn't really heavy with the dialog until later on. Lots of stuff coming out in this chapter! Yay!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>Zoe smiled up at Wade, the tiny brunette leaning up to brush her lips against his. "Morning."<p>

"Good morning."

"I feel the heat wave finally broke." Wade chuckled.

"Didn't figure that out last night when I came in all wet from the rain, did you, Doc?" She laughed.

"Shut up, you... you jerk!" The two jumped up from bed and Wade chased her out of the house and into the lake.

* * *

><p>Jack stared out the window where his cousin and Zoe were splashing in the lake together. He hate tried calling Rose at least a dozen times but she wouldn't answer. She wouldn't answer his texts either. He really hated himself and Magnolia right now. He had really been looking forward to wooing Rose and having a nice evening with her and instead... this happened.<p>

He needed a way to fix it. He would fix this if it were the last thing he did.

* * *

><p>Magnolia woke up feeling rather ill with herself. Unknown to her, her sister was feeling the same way. Both girls knew how much they had screwed up with the guys they liked, or in Lemon's case, loved.<p>

Magnolia wasn't going to stress over it. She'd win Jack over... sooner or later. She'd have her way, even if it killed her.

* * *

><p>Rose woke up and just laid in her bed. She had cried her eyes out. She had eaten containers of Ben &amp; Jerry's ice cream. She'd watched Sex &amp; the City reruns and laughed and cried and fell asleep. She'd woken to her phone ringing constantly with texts and missed calls, all from Jack.<p>

Rose knew Jack probably wasn't to blame. It was all Magnolia. She wished that something awful would happen to her.

* * *

><p>George woke up in the middle of a place he couldn't remember the name of. His head was pounding. He could remember being angry at Lemon. He could remember her telling him that she had cheated on him. She had cheated on him with Lavon. It hurt. It physically hurt.<p>

He stood, exiting the room. "Hey, you're awake, I see," a woman with what sounded like a Georgia accent said with a smile.

"Do I know you?" She laughed.

"You did last night. I offered you a place to stay after you got so totally smashed you couldn't tell left from right." She smiled, sticking out her hand to him. "Eliza Carswell-Witt. How do you do, Mr. Tucker?"

George ran his hand through his hair, shaking her hand with the other one. "Not very well. Where am I?"

"Just north of Atlanta. I reckon you were trying to get a flight from the airport there, considering you were wavin' ticket around in your hand like you were when I found you and mutterin' 'bout being late."

His eyes widened, pulling out the ticket. A one way ticket to New York. Back to the city. Away from Lemon and Lavon. Far away from Lemon and Lavon. The ticket was for tomorrow afternoon and he was glad about that."

"So your husband or boyfriend or whoever you live with is alright with you bringing home random drunk guys?" Eliza laughed.

"I live with my two sisters. The one travels a lot though, you see, and so she don't mind when I bring home people. It's rare, but I knew you were a good guy. Had a feeling 'bout, y'know?"

He nodded and she smiled brightly at him, her blonde curls falling messily over her cheek. Most of it was up in a bun, or what looked like what was supposed to be a bun. She had hazel eyes and a sweet smile.

They walked down the stairs, him following her, into a kitchen. There was a second blonde girl there, much younger, probably about Magnolia's age. She was cooking an omelet, it seemed like, and pancakes beside it on a griddle on the counter. The whole kitchen smelt good, the scents filling the air. He could smell the bacon that sat behind the griddle on the counter, a large container of hash browns beside that, and several peaches behind the potatoes.

"You planning on feeding an army?" George asked them.

"Nah," the younger one said, "Just a few of our neighbors. Mr. Henderson don't get any home cooked meals othe'wise. Mrs. Scott lives all alone and her children only get up to see her on holidays. And across the street, Ms. Mae broke her hip and can't move around well in her kitchen. And then we take some over to the church folk and some to the homeless shelter."

"So you're feeding an amount of people just short of an army?" She shrugged, going back to putting ham on the omelet and chopping up scallions.

"Anythin' you'd like for breakfast, Mr. Tucker?" the girl asked.

"Anything you make," George told her. "Can I do anything to help?"

"You and 'Liza can take those on over to Mrs. Scott. She don't mind havin' visitors." George nodded, taking what the girl indicated.

"Tally likes to cook," Eliza told him on the way over to the older woman's house. "She wants to be a singer, but she likes to cook. I told her she should get a job at a bar that has live entertainment on weekends." George nodded.

"My friend, Wade, he's just opened a bar in Alabama. I know he'll have live entertainment sometimes." He flashed her a smile. "Maybe when she graduates, she could come work there."

* * *

><p>Zoe walked into the Tuckers' house, placing the spare key back under its hiding place. George and Lemon hadn't been in George's office when she was supposed to drop off some rather disturbing results from Lemon's last set of blood work. She wouldn't have even thought to look for it, if Lemon hadn't mentioned stomachaches that she'd been having.<p>

"Lemon? George? Anyone?"

"In here," she heard Lemon call, her voice muffed. She found the blonde leaning over the toilet, eyes shut in pain. "What's wrong?" the woman asked as she saw the brunette standing seriously in the doorway of the bathroom.

"Should I give you a few minutes to clean up?" Lemon nodded and Zoe left the bathroom.

* * *

><p>Rose didn't feel good when she went out. There must have been something in the air today. She hadn't felt good since seeing Jack and Magnolia. There was an anxious, angry fluttering in her stomach that had refused to stop or let up.<p>

Jack glanced over at Rose from across the square. He wanted to talk to her, but she was ignoring him for a reason. A very blonde reason. Sighing, he stood to try, just once, to get her to talk to him face to face. He saw her grasp her stomach before she collapsed on the steps of the gazebo where she had been sitting. He ran to her.

"Rose!" he called to her, shaking her arm gently before checking the side of her neck for a pulse. Closing his eyes and muttering a little prayer in relief, Jack pulled out his cell phone and dialed nine-one-one.

* * *

><p>When Lemon came out of the bathroom, Zoe was in the living room on the phone, talking in hushed tones, almost like she was trying to soothe someone. She wasn't speaking in English, that much she was sure. She had overheard Wade and, she internally winced at the thought of her angry husband, George talking once about when Zoe had met his aunt and grandmother and how she had replied to them in German.<p>

"Um... Zoe?" she asked softly, awkwardly. The brunette's head shot up.

She held up a finger and said her goodbyes to the person on the other end before she hung up the phone. "The test results came back and they're not good. It may be nothing and I'm just jumping to something. It's not like I'm a gastroenterologist or anything like that, but-"

"Zoe, what is it?" The blonde looked at her, eyes wide. "What's wrong with me?"

Zoe closed her eyes; looking like it caused her pain to think, not even say what was on her mind at the moment. "You have a stomach ulcer."

Lemon numbly walked over to the couch and sat down.

* * *

><p>Wade looked up as Jack came running into the Rammer Jammer that was almost ready for the grand opening. Tonight, the thought made Wade smile. However, the panicked sight of his cousin made him frown.<p>

"What's wrong?" Jack gasped for air, looking at Wade in a panic.

"I need... I need to get to the hospital in Mobile. Rose... she... she collapsed. Zoe's in a meeting, or else she would have, but can you drive me there?"

Wade placed his hands on his cousin's shoulders. "Sit down, relax for a moment. It's openin' night here, so I can't go, but maybe Lavon or George can. I'll call and see. Here," he said as he spotted Shelley, "Go help her fill the salt and pepper shakers and the ketchup bottles. It'll keep your mind busy."

Jack nodded, sitting down, relaxing for a moment.

* * *

><p>George looked at Tally. "So what makes you do all this?" She shrugged.<p>

"I just like to. Mama always used to do that, but then her and Daddy got into a car accident a few years ago, and so Audri would take care of us, but then 'Liza was old enough to take care of us and Audri started working, then 'Liza did too, but she stays and Audri sends home the money." She smiled back at the man. "It's been a long time since we've had a man around. It's nice."

"I really don't want to impose or anything." Tally rolled her eyes.

"You're not, Mr. Tucker."

"George," he corrected her.

"George," she repeated softly. "'Liza won't say, but she likes having you around." Uncertainly, he reached down, twisting his wedding ring on his finger. Deciding, he pulled it off, tucking it in his pocket. If Lemon could cheat on him, he could not wear his ring for a while. She was probably already seeking comfort in Lavon's arms anyways.

* * *

><p>145 reviews to next chapter!<p>

I know you guys are reading, so come on and just let me know what you think. It's kind of hard to know if you guys like it or not if you don't review and honestly, it really doesn't feel like anyone's reading anymore because no one's, other than you select few who have reviewed on like every chapter.

So anyone catch the connection between my OCs? All of my OCs? Not just Jack who's taken a main role in this. LOL


	19. BII: In Sickness and In Health

First off, sorry for not posting this quicker.  
>Second off, sorry this is so short.<br>Third off, thank you to all my wonderful reviews.  
>And fourth and lastly, I do not own anything... other than Jack... and Audri... and Tally... and Eliza... and Wyatt... but other than them, and Weston, and Zoe's grandmother and bio grandfather, and brother, and Roxana, her sister &amp; cousin, and Paul and Clara Mae, and Wade's grandmother &amp; aunt and uncle, and Wade's mother (and I think I've covered everyone)... who are all from that strange little part of my brain that nagged me until I wrote them.<p>

Anyways...

* * *

><p>Jack walked into the room, a vase of assorted flowers, made up of carnations, mignonettes, and yarrow, all with a message to get well. He placed them on the bedside table beside Rose. She was asleep, her hair spread over the pillow and he smiled softly, taking a seat in one of the chairs beside the bed.<p>

"Jack," he heard what felt like hours later. He could have sworn his eyes were only closed for a minute. "What are you doing here?"

"Your appendix..." he started lamely, "It... uh, it ruptured." She nodded.

"I know. But what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you. They wouldn't let anyone in before, but you were asleep, so I sat down, and I guess I fell asleep." He played with his hands, nervously wringing them together. "I didn't kiss Magnolia, if that's why you're mad at me. She kissed me, then I pushed her off almost immediately after she tried to jump me. Blondie's crazy."

Rose gave him a small half smile. "I figured she had. I wasn't mad at you, I don't think, I just couldn't really talk to you because I was upset. But I figured it was Magnolia." Jack perked up.

"Good, because I was really looking forward to our date on Friday and then..." he cut off and waved his hand in the air, as if to motion everything else. She nodded.

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

He smiled at her and moved his chair closer to the bed and the two began talking.

* * *

><p>"Hey there, slow down, darlin'," Wade muttered, catching Zoe to him in his arms as she ran back and forth around the carriage house. "Where's the fire?" he asked amused.<p>

"Sorry. It's just... I have a patient... and I'm really worried about the patient." He pressed his lips to her forehead.

"You'll figure it out. You always do." Zoe hugged him, tears coming to her eyes. "Is this the over-emotional hormonal part of your pregnancy?" She shook her head.

"This is a friend worried about another friend."

"Jack called," he told her, "Rose is going to be just fine." Zoe nodded, tears streaming from her eyes.

It wasn't just Rose she was worried about.

* * *

><p>Magnolia's eyes widened as she heard the news about Rose. Just 'cause she wished that Rose was dead didn't mean she meant it literally, she thought. She ran out the door to go to the church to pray for her soul. No way did she want to go to Hell over someone as silly as Rose.<p>

* * *

><p>George smiled, breathing in the Georgia air as he stood up from the bed in the Carswell-Witt house. The town he was in was smaller than Bluebell. It had only one gas station with four pumps and one traffic light. The church was in the next town over, as was the doctors, lawyers, school and just about everything else. There was a post office next to the gas station, and a small connivance store with a bakery in it. There were some houses, but that was the whole town.<p>

"Hey there, Mr. Tucker," Tally smiled at him, holding out a dish of freshly made cookies, "Want one?"

"Thank you," he told her with a smile.

Time had seemed to slow down to a stop here. It hardly felt like an hour had passed. Maybe it was his own reluctance to return to Bluebell. Whatever the reason may be, he was in no hurry to return home. He was happy here. He didn't have to think here. It was pleasant and not humid or hot like in Bluebell.

Most of all, there was no Lemon and no Lavon and he didn't have to think about the two together having an affair while he was in New York, blissfully living the dream life while thinking about his supposedly _faithful_ then-girlfriend back in Bluebell. No, it was perfectly nice here.

* * *

><p>The three of them were in the Mobile hospital waiting room. Wade sat in a chair beside Lavon. Brick was pacing back and forth. About an hour ago, Magnolia has disappeared, mentioning something about forgiveness.<p>

Lemon was pale, overly thin, and very weak looking. Her stomach ulcer was possible serious. It worried Brick like crazy. His oldest daughter was extremely sick and where was her husband now? He had disappeared for a weird reason of which no one would tell him, Zoe, or Wade.

Zoe had gone to try to find out any information about Lemon, being that she had been her doctor for this. When he saw Zoe, walking out, with a frown on her face, he knew it wasn't good. "What's happening?"

"They're going to do surgery on her. They have a spot for tomorrow. You can go back and see her, if you want."

Dr. Breeland nodded, heading back in the direction from which Dr. Hart-Kinsella had just came. Zoe moved over to the chairs and sat down beside Wade, leaning on him. His arms wrapped around her and his lips lingered on her hairline. Sniffling a little, she moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around her husband's body as she laid her head down gently upon his chest. She looked tired, like if she went to sleep right now, she might not wake up for another twelve hours. Between Lemon's ulcer, Rose's appendix, and her pregnancy hormones, all she wanted to do was sleep.

Lavon watched the couple wrap their arms around each other, the tied doctor laying her head down, his old friend smile, leaning his head just barely onto of hers. It was pretty adorable really, in a sickening sort of way. The former football player stood up, awkwardly putting his hands in his pockets. "Hey guys, I'm gonna go get some coffee. Want anything?"

"Sleep," Zoe muttered tiredly.

Wade shrugged, "Nothin' right now. Thanks Lavon." The mayor nodded and walked away.

* * *

><p>Audri walked down from the large aircraft that carried soldiers in and out of the base, glancing up at the hot dessert sky. As the night went, soldiers moved around, to and fro. A man in clothes to obviously go to the gym bumped into her, causing her to drop a small bit of her things.<p>

"Oh, hey, I'm sorry, miss," he said, pulling an ear bud from his ear and kneeling to the ground to help her.

"It's no problem. I'm Audrianne Carswell-Witt."

"Wyatt Kinsella. It's a pleasure to meet you." He grinned boyishly at her.

"And you," she said taking her things and standing.

"Is that a bit of a Georgia twang I can hear in your voice?" Audri smiled coyly at him.

"Depends. Is that a bit of an Alabama accent I can here?" He smirked back.

"Depends." He glanced down at the time on his MP3 player and looked back at her. "Well, I'm afraid I have to go, but maybe well see each other again real soon."

* * *

><p>The sun was high in the Georgia sky. The air was hot, but not humid, with a slight breeze coming through. Suddenly, the peaceful quiet was pierced with the shrill sound of a phone ringing. When he picked up the phone, an unfamiliar woman's voice asked, "George Tucker?"<p>

TBC...

* * *

><p>Ok, so I know there's no excuse for just not writing anything or posting the last few weeks on this story, but in my defense, I have some really good reasons.<p>

Number 10: It was hot.  
>Number 9: I was watching Buffy.<br>Number 8: I was drooling over Spike's abs.  
>Number 7: It was really hot.<br>Number 6: I was playing golf, despite it being really hot, and sort of got burned... very burned.  
>Number 5: I was having writer's block.<br>Number 4: Did I mention that it's been really hot?  
>Number 3: I became re-obsessed with European royalty, mostly the Russians with the line of Nicholas I and Alexander III.<br>Number 2: I've been working.

And last but not least... NUMBER 1!

Number 1: IT'S BEEN LIKE A THOUSAND DEGREES!

I bought donuts. They sat on the counter overnight (big mistake) and in the morning, all the chocolate was all over the bottom of the container. EW! What's with this stinking heat? And don't say global warming, because a few months ago, I froze off several pounds, literally just about. And now, I'm melting. Forget cooking an egg on the sidewalk, you could heat up clay on the side walk, or boil some very high boiling point element, Uranium or Yttrium or Boron, on that same sidewalk.

Does everyone like how I tied my OCs together to HOD's characters? I've been planning Audri and Wyatt's meet for quite a while.

And now, I'm going to ask for a very deep and personal favor.

Does anyone know how to make banners for these stories? If you know how, please pm me! I'd really appreciate it because my computer has the photo-editing capacity of cropping and maybe changing the colors. I'm looking to make one for this story. Thank you. :D

So 155 reviews to next chapter... I swear I'll try to get it posted in a timely manner. The more reviews over that, the less likely Lemon is to tragically die in surgery, tragically die of complications of the surgery, less likely Zoe is to lose the baby, more likely George is to return home in one piece, and less likely that Lavon is going to run over Burt Reynolds, Burt becomes a zombie, and comes back and eats all of the cast members' brains in their sleep, and the more likely I am to post it in the area of the next week. If that sounds good to you, the more reviews the better the chances are. :D


	20. BII: The Heavyhearted and The Hospital

Disclaimer: I own nothing... nada.

* * *

><p>"George Tucker?" the woman on the other end of the line questioned.<p>

"Yes?"

"This is Maureen Linden at Mobile General Hospital. You're listed on the form for a Mrs." there was a pause as the woman read something, "Lemon Breeland-Tucker."

Forgetting his prior anger at the blonde, he was quick to ask. "What happened to her?"

"Her doctor asked that we call and tell you that the surgeons have successfully operated on her ulcer, but they're not sure if there will be complications yet, so she has to stay for observation."

George squeezed his eyes shut. Was it so unfair that he couldn't just be mad at Lemon and nothing happen? Why'd she have to get an ulcer to top that, to make him feel guilty about leaving? After all, she was the one who had cheated, not him.

"Thank you," he heard himself mutter, "Have a nice day."

* * *

><p>When Zoe woke up, it wasn't in the hospital chair she had fallen asleep in, but rather a bed in what looked like the spare bedroom of somebody's house. She frowned, looking up and around. There was little personalization to the room, other than a large, strange looking painting on the wall. Without so much as a knock, the door opened and her handsome husband, two works that made her blush despite only thinking them, walked in.<p>

"Hey," she whispered softly, still trying to work out where they were.

"So Sleeping Beauty awakens," a second voice came from behind him with just a hint of sarcastic.

"Paul? This is your house?" her nose crinkled up in what Wade thought was the most adorable way. "It seems so unlike your wife to leave a room this empty."

"I heard that," Clara said in a sing-song-y voice as she walked in the room, caring a tray with a single waffle, milk, syrup, and fruit.

"Well, it's just in New York, your apartment wasn't exactly going for minimalistic themes." The male doctor shrugged at his friend's remark. "So how'd I end up here?"

"You were exhausted. You need to sleep more, Zoe," her doctor chastised her, "It's not healthy for you or the baby." She looked down embarrassed. "Wade called. That kid you brought with you to my office that day, his nephew, had introduced us at your wedding."

The female doctor she nodded. She snuggled into Wade as he moved onto the bed beside her. He smiled down at her and she gave a small smile back. Taking the hint, Clara set down the tray and together, she and her husband left the other couple alone.

* * *

><p>"What's wrong, George?"<p>

The lawyer jumped, turning back to face Eliza. "My wife is in the hospital. I don't know if I want to go back though."

She cocked her head at him, looking at him with curious eyes. "Why not?"

"I didn't exactly leave on the best of terms," he glanced back out the window, down the road. "She cheated on me with a friend of mine."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I don't know what to do yet." Eliza placed a hand on his shoulder.

"If leaving was the right thing, you'd feel better about it. Do you feel better?"

George paused for a minute, really thinking and self-reflecting on everything that had happened since he got to Georgia. "At times yes, but when I really stop to think about it, no."

"Then go back. She needs you there. You need to talk things out with her and then, if you feel like leaving is the right thing, then you leave." She paused and there was quietness in the room for a short while. Finally, she spoke again. "If you don't go back, you'll always wonder what would have happened if you did."

He nodded. "I'll be catching the first flight out of here." George walked to the stairs and began to climb them before he paused. "Thank you so much for you and your sister's hospitality."

"It's not a problem. You're welcome here anytime. Will you need a ride to the airport?"

"Yes, thank you." And with that, he went upstairs to pack.

* * *

><p>"We should do something fun once this is all over," Zoe declared as she and Wade sat on the bed in her friend's house.<p>

"Like what?" her husband asked amused.

"I don't know. Something... exciting." She jumped up suddenly, warm brown eyes glowing, her cheeks flushed, and her hair sticking up from where she had been laying on it funny. "Let's go to Disney World."

"Disney World?" he asked slowly, making sure he'd heard her correctly.

"Well, getting through this will be like winning the Olympics or something," she laughed at her own private joke.

"Let's work small and work our way up to going to Disney World?"

"Like what?" she all but shouted.

Wade grinned so large that his teeth were showing. "Ever been to Atlanta?"

* * *

><p>Darkness. Utter and absolute darkness. Mind numbing, pitch black darkness. Quiet and darkness. Was this Hell? It sure felt that way. She was all alone in this place, whatever it was... wherever it was. Then there were noises for a short while, a loud beeping, what was that beeping? Lemon wondered as she tried to figure out why it was so dark.<p>

She wanted to open her eyes, but couldn't. Why couldn't she? Every second, something was pushing her back, even as she tried to fight it. It was like she was trapped within herself, but she desperately wanted out. She needed out. She was a Breeland, a Bluebell Belle, she would get her way. She was a survivor.

* * *

><p>He watched her stir restlessly for a few minutes, her heart rate spiked, and a nurse came inside the room, putting more painkillers in the IV. He watched the nurse leave and glance sadly at him in the hall before leaving him alone. Magnolia was fast asleep in the waiting room, in a chair across from Lavon. The Mayor had volunteered to stay and watch his younger daughter while he checked on his elder one. Lavon was waiting for news on Lemon, for Zoe and Wade to return to the hospital. Dr. Hart had all but collapsed earlier and had been asleep by the time Wade and that other doctor, Dr. Altman, had gotten her in the car.<p>

Lemon was asleep too. No, he corrected himself as he stared at the woman with her blonde hair on the pillow beside her, Lemon was in a medically induce coma, but Brick wanted to pretend she was just sleeping. After all, she was just his little girl. He didn't want anything bad happening to her. She had been in enough pain to last a lifetime.

Sure she had brought some of it on herself, but she hadn't meant to. Lemon was stronger than this. She would beat this and she'd survive. He knew it. He just knew it. She was a Breeland after all.

"Hello Brick." No, he hadn't heard that voice in years, well over a decade.

"Alice."

* * *

><p>Ok, I'm sorry I haven't posted this quicker. I'll be posting quicker again when my brain starts working straight. I feel like I'm going fifty million different directions lately.<p>

And it doesn't help that I can't concentrate because I keep singing the Declaration of Independence, of all things. Now I know most of you think it can't be sung, but it can. If you don't believe me, look up The Fifth Dimension the Declaration of Independence on Youtube or Yahoo or wherever. It's a great way to learn it if you need to remember it for school or just to impress your friends with random knowledge (or drive your roommate crazy as you sing it around the house! :D)

My favorite part: "That when any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolished it, and to institute new governmeeeeeennttttt, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing it powers in such form, that to them shall seem most likelyyy to protect their safety and happineeeessss!"

And now you know why three of my five roommates are annoyed at me! Lol. Sorry guys, just showing my patriotism... especially with all these great USA wins in the Olympics... Michael Phelps- 22 medals ever!... Missy Franklin in swimming... Gabrielle Douglas in gymnastics... wow!

To everyone who has reviewed on this story, thank you so much!

Review goal for this chapter: 170 reviews.


	21. Yet Another Author Note

Yet Another boring author's note:

I know it's been a month. I cringe at the thought of how long I've put this off, but here we go:

Due to a lack of ideas and excess of writer's block on this story, I am postponing update... as you have all probably figured out, until I either become inspired again or Hart of Dixie comes back on, which ever happens first.

I know some of you are ready to riot probably because you were ready for the update, but I promise I'm not just quitting this story or leaving it half way. This story and I are just taking a break from each other. It's like any relationship, we're tired of each other and need some new company for a little while before one of us (being me) does something stupid (like make a sinkhole open up and swallow the whole hospital, George's airplane, and Bluebell...) that would completely kill the story. But if anyone has any ideas for the story, I'm open to some new thoughts and creative input on it. That would really be a huge help.

I really appreciate everyone who has been reading this and those who have reviewed! Thank you so much. I'm not abandoning you, just simply doing like the CW does (which though pretty much does feel like they abandoned us for the summer) and taking a hiatus. But like the Terminator (and Bruce Willis in Expendables 2), "I'll be back."

I'm sorry, everyone.

Celeste


	22. BII: Rainstorms and Reconnecting

Okay, it's a real chapter, just like I promised it'd be! Sorry it took so long. Now that HOD is back on, the updates should be getting back on a semi-regular schedule.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the half of a second that Jack's in here.

* * *

><p>Previously on Where We Begin:<p>

_"Hello Brick." No, he hadn't heard that voice in years, well over a decade._

_"Alice."_

There was an awkward, still silence in the room that made Brick feel uncomfortable. Slowly, he shifted, unknowingly, as if to block Alice's view from their daughter.

"What- what are you doing here?" The words were choked at first, but then came through at last. What did she want after all this time? Hadn't she hurt his family enough?

"Well, I heard 'bout Lemon and I came to make sure she was okay."

Brick had disliked Zoe greatly when she first arrived in Bluebell. That dislike gave way to a grudging acceptance of each other, and later, a comfortable work reliance that held both him and her in a check and balance. Right now, he couldn't me more grateful to her for walking in when she did.

"Hey Brick. Results are in. She should be fine." Like an ever-present shadow, Wade stood in the doorway behind her.

"Well looky what we've got here," the bartender drawled, through Brick had to mentally correct himself. Wade wasn't just a bartender anymore. The fact that Wade wasn't talking to him or Zoe didn't go unnoticed. Lavon stepped in the room, glancing down at the woman.

"Seems like someone rolled into town unexpected, lookin' to be welcomed with opened arms."

"Dr. Hart, in your professional opinion, wouldn't you agree that stress an' tension ain't any good for a coma patient?" Zoe glanced at her husband. She had kept Hart as her professional name, but it still took her a second to respond to it.

"Yes, I would. Everyone out of here now." It never ceased to amaze any of the three men in the room how pushy Zoe could be when she wanted to be. Like a scolding mother, a barely pregnant Zoe Kinsella née Hart shooed everyone out into the hallway, closing the door with a resounding click behind her. Maybe things would be better with someone like Zoe there to mediate.

Of course, things could only go from bad to worse on a day like this.

* * *

><p>At Mobile's airport, George's plane touched down. As he climbed into the rental car– Eliza was having his truck sent back to Bluebell, though she didn't say how– he was overcome with a wave of anger. How long had Lemon lied to him? And Lavon... Lavon had lied to him too. He thought they were better friends than that.<p>

He clenched his fists as he pulled into a parking spot. He might as well go now, before he lost his courage. A sharp clap of thunder struck the air... and George just sat.

* * *

><p>The air was too cold, yet too warm. It seemed heavy, like it was pressing down on her, making it hard to breathe. The noises were too loud; everything was too bright, too hard. A blurred shape shifted, one she recognized. A hand clasped hers. "Zoe?"<p>

The doctor snapped out of her thoughts, glancing down at the blonde on the bed. She smiled slightly. "I see you're awake."

Lemon tried to shift up, but one small, but strong hand pressed her shoulder down again. "Am I gonna be okay?"

"You're going to be fine. Just focus on getting better." The blonde nodded, weakly. "I'll go tell everyone that you're awake."

Zoe had no soon stood and turned before the Belle shot upward, gasping at the pain from where she guessed she had surgery. "No!" The brunette turned back, confused, "They'll want to see me and talk to me and they'll expect me to be together and happy and I'm a mess."

"Lemon, they don't care about that. They'll just be happy that you're _awake_."

The words hit through her, and she wondered if they were really true. Of course they had to be. Zoe Hart never lied to her, the two always preferring brutal honesty which could make the other sting like they had just been electrocuted. Still, it was no shock when she spoke, her voice shook, "Really?"

"Yes. Now lie down and relax. I'll only get Brick and Magnolia." She nodded, for once, obeying the Doctor's orders.

* * *

><p>Everyone shot up straight as they heard footsteps coming down the hall. They all slumped as they saw an old man with graying hair and a lab coat on, not the tiny brunette they expected. Only Alice remained sitting straight, reading a book, after declaring the New Yorker a feminist freak, who should let the men practice medicine and stop giving women a bad name. Wade had tried to step in, but Zoe, angry from the insult and over exaggerating on hormones, gave Alice a piece of her mind. She not only said that the woman should be unfit to be a mother, but that she was probably the worst parent in the history of all parents and it was backwards thinking like hers that kept her daughters from learning that this was the twenty first century, where women could vote, drive a car, and run for any public office, by the way, until she had come to town. After that, Alice found fit to simply ignore the female doctor.<p>

"She's awake," Zoe declared, "Brick and Magnolia only. The last thing she needs is to be stressed out by her _mother_."

Eyes widened. Rose and Jack looked up at his cousin-in-law with excitement. Lavon smiled. Brick stood, hugging his younger daughter, as they both began walking towards her room. Zoe sat down, tired, and curled into her husband's side. "I could sleep for a decade," she muttered to him. Wade ran his hand up and down her arm.

"Well just close your eyes and relax for a while. Should be no more surprises today." She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder.

"We're going to go down to the café," Jack informed Wade, his hand intertwined with Rose.

"Okay," Zoe muttered, half-asleep, prompting the two cousins to burst into laughter.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Wade called after him, causing the boy to stop short and turned with a half-disgusted look on his face.

"You want me to marry her?" The two teens laughs could be heard down the hall after that comment.

"Sounds like you're going to have your hands full," Lavon told his friend, "That's boy's a little too much like you. Let's hope the kid doesn't end up that way."

"Let's hope he just sleeps through the night," the brunette murmured off the bartender's arm. The men chuckled.

"What'd I miss?"

Zoe groaned, sitting up. "No one's going to let me sleep, are they?"

"Tucker?" Wade stared at him, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean what am I doing here?" the lawyer countered, stepping closer up to Wade.

Wade stood, standing right up in George's face. "What I mean is where were you when your wife was havin' surgery? Or why are you even here now if you don't care 'bout her?"

"Hey, Wade, calm down," the level-headed mayor stepped in between the two, "I'm sure George had his own reasons for leaving so... abruptly."

"Lavon, can I talk to you outside?"

"Why can't you just say it in front of everyone, Tucker?"

"Alright, I will." With that, he hauled back and punched Lavon squarely in the nose. Zoe covered her mouth, laughing in shock at that.

Alice looked up from her book, appalled. "Why I never!"

"What was that for?" the former linebacker yelled, clutching at his nose.

"I think you know!" Wade stepped back from the two of them.

"Well, I think the two of you have somethin' to talk 'bout and I really don't feel like getting' hit tonight." He sat down next to Zoe, who was going to stand up, pulling her into his lap. "Okay, I take it back. There should be no surprises starting now."

There were two sets of rushed footsteps that came down the hall. Brick and Magnolia burst into the room. "Lemon's not in her room."

"Or now," the tiny doctor muttered back, standing up, her husband following her. The father hand daughter had caught everyone's attention with the news. "Where could she have gone?"

"I don't know. No one had seen her." He glanced at his son-in-law. "George? When did you get here?" Then he noticed the mayor's nose. "What happened out here?"

"Still trying to figure that out ourselves, Brick," Wade said, slapping the older man's shoulder. "Guess we'll split up an' look for her."

* * *

><p>It was George that found her, standing bare foot in the middle of the grass just outside the hospital, the rain pouring down, and lightning lighting up the sky. "I came as soon as I heard," he told her, "Why didn't you tell me?"<p>

"I didn't know if you'd want to see me after what I had done," she muttered back, her tears mixing with the rain as they streamed down her face.

"I'm sorry, Lemon." She looked up, panicked.

"No, don't be apologizing. It's my fault. I shouldn't have-" she swallowed hard, "I shouldn't have cheated on you, George, but I didn't mean for it to happen."

"I know."

"I should have told you sooner, but I was so scared. I didn't want you to leave me, but you did anyways."

"Lemon-"

"I don't know what happens next," she replied, "I just know that everything seems clearer now in the rain."

* * *

><p>Up until the minute I uploaded this chapter, the working title was 'Rainstorms and Reunions', because I honestly expected Lemon's mom to be reunited with her daughter. I'm hoping that now that I'm over the hard chapter, that it'll move along much quicker. I tried to make this chapter longer to make up, but then realized my longest chapter has over three thousand words and they just weren't flowing out like they should.<p>

The last scene is actually inspired by the Disney movie Pixel Perfect, from the only part I even remember about that movie where he chased the girl from the hospital and she dances around it her hospital gown in the rain. I'm sorry there's no dancing. Maybe next chapter...

Please review! 180 to next chapter. :)


	23. Author's note

Hey everyone,

I'm really sorry that I haven't been posting. I've been having some health problems that until they clear up, I'm not going to be writing.

Sorry.

Celeste


	24. BII: Dreams and Dances

Okay, so bad prediction with the regular schedule thing, although, I didn't expect to get sick :p. Sorry about that guys. But hey, at least I finally got another chapter out! :) I think I'll be trying to wrap this story up in the next couple of chapters though. I just feel that my heart's not in it the way it should be.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p>With Lemon out of the hospital, things became much calmer. Bluebell wasn't deprived of its two doctors and lawyer. Rose was back in school with a clean bill of health. Magnolia was on the dance committee for Bluebell High's Spring Fling. Everything seemed great, like the calm before the storm.<p>

Alice, much to everyone's disappointment, had not left town. Lemon, angry with her mother and heartbroken after what she had seen at Christmas time, refused to see, let alone be in the same room as her mother. Unfortunately, Alice made it very clear she was not leaving until her and her eldest spoke and even though she was staying at the inn in town, she was still getting on everyone's last nerve.

George and Lemon, though they could be in the same room together, were now acting like a couple of awkward teenagers who were going on their first date together. The situation would have been better had Alice not been there, because she was sticking her noise into everyone's business.

Lemon stared at the television, watching old VCR tapes from the nineties where she had recorded almost every figure skating competition and analyzed every move bit by bit for weeks.

She watched the brunette skater slide gracefully over the ice to the center, taking position. The skater wore a beautiful black and purple dress, with sequins and sparkles. The neck was high, covering her throat. The sleeves came to her elbow. In the back, it was completely open, sprayed with crystals. She wore black transparent stockings over her skates. She had a serious expression on her face as she waited for the music.

"Representing American," the announcer's voice came, "Zonne Reinhardt!"

A bar came across the bottom of the screen with the American flag; Zonne's current rank, which was third place; her coach's name, the talented Dana Smith who had coached other Olympic skaters; and finally, her age: fifteen.

When her performance stared, Lemon was entranced. "This is Zonne's second year on the Grand Prix circuit," the announcer told the television audience, "She's a two time world junior medalist and she's hoping to move on to the Grand Prix Finals. In two years, it's quite possible Reinhardt will be skating for Team USA at the Winter Olympics in Nagano."

"And there was her triple-triple," the female announcer spoke, "She's really starting off strong this time. She has a much stronger Free Skate than some of the others and is able to add her own creative flare into the program, and I think the judges will consider that when they score her."

Zonne soared over the ice, gaining speed before she leaped into the air. When she touched down, she started spinning, one leg stretched out as she balanced on the other. She slide gracefully in a spin before sliding into a sit spin, holding her body so that her nose touched her knee, coming back up to perform a lift her foot and hands above her head. Lemon could recognize the signature, even after not seeing the skater perform in years. But as she looked closely, the skater seemed strangely familiar. Her facial expression was something she'd seen recently... but where?

"She's a very elegant skater. She hasn't been skating as long as many of the others, but she is one of the quickest learning skaters. And look at the speed she gets. It's just incredible," one of the announcers spoke. From behind her, someone paused the tape and she jumped.

"Seriously, Lemon? I thought you had this memorized."

"Magnolia Breeland! Give me back that remote right now."

The teenage raised her eyebrow at her sister. "Uh. No."

"Magnolia! Stop harassing your sister," Zoe's voice came as the very pregnant brunette strolled in the room, just as Magnolia had ejected the tape.

"But-"

"Go do your homework or something." Lemon stared at Zoe as the younger blonde left the room. "What?" she snapped.

"It's just, you sounded like a mother."

"Oh."

"It's not a bad thing," Lemon added, "Just different."

As the brunette left some time later, Lemon put the tape back in the machine and hit play. As the tiny brunette skated over the ice, the blonde jumped up. "Zoe!"

* * *

><p>When George walked into the Breeland's house, where they decided it would be best for Lemon to recover at, she was asleep on the couch, the remote in her hand. He could see the tape in the machine had been finished and never shut off. Carefully, he pulled a blanket over his wife and took the remote from her hand, shutting off the TV and giving her a kiss.<p>

He'd see her when she woke up.

* * *

><p>It had been a few weeks since her surgery and Mrs. Alice Breeland was getting on everyone's nerves, even Lemon who still refused to see her mother.<p>

"Please Lemon, I'm begging you, just go see her so she'll leave," Magnolia pleaded. Brick nodded with his younger daughter's sentiment.

"Fine," the older daughter huffed, "I don't understand why I have to go see her."

"Because she won't leave. Lemon, she won't leave until you see her. So just go, you don't even have to be there long."

"Fine."

* * *

><p>They met for tea. The younger woman kept hoping the older one would leave. She still harbored resentful feelings towards the woman since she saw her with the man and the daughter in Daphne. She hadn't wanted them.<p>

"I know you're upset, and rightfully so, but that is no reason to be ignoring me. Lemon, I am your mother and I-"

"Some mother you are."

"Excuse me?" Alice looked straight at her daughter.

"You left us and got yourself a new family."

"Lemon! What are you accusing me of?"

"Nothing I didn't see with my own two eyes. You abandoned us, leaving Daddy a mess, leaving me to raise Magnolia, and now you think you can just walk into our lives."

"Lemon Breeland, I raised you better than this."

"Then I'm sure you raised your new daughter just lovely too. It's probably best you get back to them now."

Outraged, Alice stood up and left. Lemon smiled hollowly at her shallow victory.

* * *

><p>She couldn't remember being this tired, even when she was sick, Lemon thought, as she pulled off her shoes and crawled into bed.<p>

* * *

><p>Jack thought she looked beautiful. She was wearing a tasteful gray dress that made her look feminine and lovely. "You look great."<p>

She smiled shyly, tucking a strand of brown hair behind her ear. "Thanks." He kissed her cheek, taking her hand as they walked inside. "This is awesome," Rose squealed, hugging Jack as they entered the school gym.

"You're acting like you've never been to a school dance before." Rose shrugged.

"I've never had a boyfriend at one before."

"Well then, let's dance."

She giggled as he dragged her out on the dance floor, spinning her to some music. As he spun her back in, he stumbled and she stepped on his shoes. "Sorry!" they both cried out at ones, before they laughed.

From a far, Magnolia rolled her eyes. She was glad she wasn't with him anyways.

* * *

><p>He walked her up to the porch of her house. "I had a great time tonight, Rose."<p>

"I did too." He smiled, kissing her.

"You're beautiful."

"And we are terrible dancers." Jack shrugged.

"I was bound to be bad at something." The two laughed loudly at this. "Good night, Rose. I'll see you later."

"Night, Jack," she whispered as he walked down the steps to where Lavon had parked his car to chauffer Jack back to the plantation.

* * *

><p>Well, I did promise dancing. It's sort of dancing (and corny, from my perspective.)<p>

Thank you everyone for your well wishes. I'm better (sort of.) I got better only to sprain my foot and ankle, and hurt my knee, not realize it was sprained (because I'm a total klutz and I just figured oh, it's probably just twisted) so I aggravated the injury so I'm trying to rest it and started typing away trying to get out this chapter. So good things do come out of bad. :D

Thanks everyone for all your reviews! :) I really appreciate your support.

Please review! 195 to next review.


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